Category Archives: Exhibitions

Post the success of last year’s ‘Travel Experiential Show– Beyond Luxury,’ the next edition of the show will be held from April 8-9, 2017, at WelcomHotel Sheraton, New Delhi. Over 60 pre-vetted, high-profile travel buyers and exhibitors across the world are expected to be present under one roof owing to the Experiential Show. Its one-on-one meeting format will give the exclusive list of luxury buyers and leading global suppliers an opportunity for serious B2B meetings, unrivalled networking opportunities and the know-how to cater to existing and potential clients. The specialised event is aimed to identify and drive trends in the experiential travel sector, and in turn attract highly sought-after, difficult to reach clients. The show will be inaugurated by luxury travel specialists followed by cocktail and networking gala dinner on April 8, 2017. “We look forward to the second edition of India’s Premier Travel and Experiential Show. After the outstanding response from the previous affair in December, we are expecting it to be a fruitful amalgamation for the industry people,” said Sarika Rawal Bhambhani, General Manager, DDP Exhibitions.

Asia Pacific region’s hotel exhibition by AccorHotels – AccorHotels Showcase kicked off its 2017 India leg today at Sofitel Mumbai BKC and will travel to New Delhi on March 24. Joined by AccorHotels’ executives from across 95 countries representing more than 4,100 hotels and resorts worldwide, the event will offer attendees an insight into the group’s new developments, products and services. In its 14th year touring the region, AccorHotels Showcase provides travel agents, wholesalers, corporate clients, tourism partners and MICE organisers an opportunity to discover AccorHotels accommodation trends, news and stunning hotels and resorts from around the world. This year, AccorHotels commences its 12-destination series as it moves through cities, visiting landmark AccorHotels across Asia Pacific. In India, exhibitors from globally sought-after destinations such as France, Spain, Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE and Singapore will be present at the event, representing celebrated hotels like Fairmont Ajman, SO Sofitel Singapore & Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort and Spa, Pullman Paris Eiffel Tower, Swissôtel The Bosphorus Istanbul, Novotel Madrid Center and more. Over 400 guests comprising top corporates from India, Travel Management Companies, Travel Agents and Tour Operators, PCOs and Wedding Planner are set to attend the event in each city.

Around 10,000 exhibitors from 184 countries and regions in 26 fully-booked halls set the ball rolling at the ITB Berlin Convention, being held from March 8-12, 2017.  The Indian pavilion was inaugurated by Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Germany, along with Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. Dr. Christian Göke, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Berlin GmbH, says, “As the world’s most important gathering place for the tourism industry ITB Berlin above all brings people together. A million face-to-face meetings at ITB Berlin will do one thing in particular, and that is build trust, trust on which we increasingly depend in our business dealings, in a digitalised and globalised world that has become more and more difficult to understand. Over 80 per cent of our exhibitors are from abroad. The organisers again expect more than 100,000 international trade visitors as well as many thousand members of the public on the weekend, who will be able to book their holidays directly at the show. The convention features key topics such as ‘Safety & Security’ and ’Artificial Intelligence’. This year, on March 9, at ITB Berlin, two Speed Dating events will give buyers and bloggers an opportunity to meet with exhibitors from around the world, enabling them to establish valuable contacts all in one day. This year at ITB Berlin, for the first time the important growth segment of medical tourism will receive its own platform. Medical service providers, hotels and destinations will be able to exhibit their products and services In the Medical Tourism Pavilion in Hall 3.2. On Thursday, 9 March from 3 to 4 p.m., …

ETAA will be hosting its second domestic convention from March 3-5, near Hyderabad. The convention will be held at Leonia Resort which is one hour away from the Hyderabad airport. As of now Tourism Fiji have confirmed to be the co-sponsors for the convention and other tourism boards may soon join in. The convention will host B2B sessions, presentations from the exhibitors and sponsors showcasing new products and destinations to its members. The third day will be a optional sightseeing tour of Hyderabad which will be part of the package. Speaking on the occasion Jagat Mehta, President, ETAA said, “We want to showcase new products to our members and maximise their business possibilities so we will be having exhibitors showcasing unique products at the convention. We may also plan to keep knowledge sessions on GST and its effect on the travel industry once there is a clear picture by the government. We expect 200 plus members across the country to attend the convention.” ETAA will also be hosting knowledge sessions in Kolkata on 4th February and Hyderabad on 10th February focussing on up-selling and cross selling where professionals from the travel and trade industry will be present.

The department of Tourism, North Bengal Development Department and Eastern Himalaya Travel & Tour Operators Association (EHTTOA), the largest body of tourism industry in North East, jointly organised the second edition of three-day long Bengal Travel Mart (BTM) in Siliguri under Darjeeling district of West Bengal. It is the first event in the state where at least 144 delegates from different states along with delegates from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka participated. It also included more than 200 stakeholders (buyers and sellers) for BTB meet and practical visits of the tourism sports in the region. The main motto behind the BTM is to enhance West Bengal tourism. The participants in the mart stakeholders said that this would boom their tourism industry as a whole.

Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) was inaugurated on January 20, 2016, at Hotel Centre Point, Nagpur in the presence of Satinder S. Ahuja, Honorary Counsul, Consulate of Georgia, Marzban Antia, Vice President, TAAI, Ankush Nijhawan, MD, Nijhawan Group, and SanJeet, Vice Chairman, PATA India and MD, DDP Group, among other dignitaries. Harmandeep Singh Anand, Co-founder, GPS and MD, Jagsons Travels, informed that 108 exhibitors showcased their various products and offerings for the Tier II and Tier III markets. The event was attended by over 600 buyers. “If we see the multiplier effect, then approximately for 108 exhibitors and 1,000 buyers, 100,000 meetings can be done. This is a huge number. We have witnessed 99 per cent success in terms of exchange of e-cards.” The GPS mobile application launched for the 5th edition has been a huge success, Anand informed adding that the application is undergoing constant upgrade. He informed that to facilitate live feed and news, TravTalk will be integrated in the application. In the upcoming events, video conferencing facilities will also be made available to the attendees. “The buyers and exhibitors can maintain the database and keep in touch even after the show. All data can be found at one marketplace which will bring together the big and small service providers as well as all kinds of travel agents and tour operators in the Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha a region” he added. He further informed that five per cent of the profit from GPS this year will be contributed to Dr. Amit Samarth, a doctor by profession but a sports and fitness promoter in India, in order to fund his endeavour to compete in race across America challenge in 2017. …

The 2017 edition of Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) began in Nagpur on January 19, at Hotel Centre Point. The first day saw education seminars on pertinent issues like GST, art of guerrilla marketing, cyber security etc., where industry experts discussed and clarified various challenges being faced by the travel and hospitality industry. Over 1000 attendees from metro cities along with Tier II and Tier III cities joined the sessions at the show on the first day. The GPS App saw over 600 active users. Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, Jagsons Travels, and co-founder, GPS, says, “We have been successful in creating probably the first ever e – exhibition. We have had over 1000 registrations for the six education sessions today. The attendees are exchanging cards and their presentations trough the app and the presentations are available in the application even after the event. GPS has become the biggest marketplace in the country.” This year the event is a six city exhibition and will also go to Ahmedabad (July 13-15), Chandigarh (July 20-22), Kolkata (July 27-29), Kochi (Aug 3-5) and conclude in Pune (Aug 10-12).

Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, attended FITUR 2017, organised by Ifema in Madrid, encouraging the Indian travel fraternity at the first large-scale travel show for this year. FITUR in its 37th year has seen almost 10% more exhibition space, 62,494 square meters, and a 6% increase in direct stand holders with a total of 755 displaying the offerings of 9,672 companies, configure a professional business platform which sees its international offerings reinforced by 9% in terms of main standholders. UNWTO has picked FITUR as the venue for kicking off the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

The 36th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) has commenced in Singapore from January 16-20, 2017. Themed “Shaping Our Tourism Journey Together,” ATF 2017 will support the continuous, collective efforts by ASEAN members to address challenges and opportunities as ASEAN jointly develops and grows the tourism industry in the region. Highlights of the event include official launch of VisitASEAN@50 Campaign at the Opening Gala on January 18. The Visit ASEAN@50: Golden Celebration campaign will be officially launched by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong; ASEAN Secretary General, Le Luong Minh and ASEAN Tourism Ministers. 50 special packages have been selected by ASEAN NTOs for the campaign, which aims to attract 121 million international visitor arrivals to the region by end of 2017, up from 109 million in 2015. For the first time, ASEAN will honour outstanding tourism communities measured against ASEAN’s CBT standards. All 10 ASEAN member states will share updates on their latest destination news, goals, partnerships and service innovations. Key highlights include information on Singapore’s new marketing strategy; Visit Laos Year 2018; Viet Nam’s new visa policies, including the visa exemption policy for European tourists; Myanmar’s update on tourism performance, skills development initiatives, and its new destination marketing promotions for 2017.

The first-ever Travel Experiential Show concluded with 650 meetings conducted among 23 exhibitors and 25 buyers on Dec 18, 2016 at Le Meridien Gurgaon where representatives from destination management companies, hotels, travel agents and tour operators, among others, met under one roof to network and explore opportunities. “From the feedback we’ve received, the show was a huge success,” stated Punam Singh, Associate, Pacific Leisure Group. “We welcomed a lot of familiar faces but also some new ones and the platform helped them discover newer avenues to further their business. We will surely be back next year to bring more people together.” Speaking at the inauguration, keynote speaker Sushil Shamal Wadhwa, Founder & CEO, Platinum World Group, highlighted, “The whole idea of experiential travel is presenting something exclusive and unique, be it the most expensive dinner that costs $300,000 for five people, or activities like archery and falconry in a destination like Mongolia. Experiences like these first turn you speechless and then into a storyteller. As the demand for luxury increases and people become more open to trying newer experiences, the segment will continue to evolve and grow.”