According to Subhash Goyal, Chairman of the Organising Committee of ITM and Secretary of FAITH, 274 international buyers from 60 countries have already confirmed their participation at the inaugural edition of India Tourism Mart (ITM) next month. This number is expected to further grow as there are around 50 more applications that need to be screened, he informed. The final tally of international buyers is expected to be in the region of 300.
Goyal also informed that a total of around 550 foreign buyer applications were received of which around 500 applications have already been screened and 274 buyers have been confirmed. This number does not include the media and bloggers which the Ministry of Tourism is inviting on their own.
More than 20 states are participating at the inaugural edition of the event as exhibitors. The event will feature about 150 booths. IATO is involved in organising eight to nine post tours, spread across the country, for the foreign buyers to showcase various part of the country and their tourism attractiveness. “This is the first time that the whole of industry has come together to put up a show like this. This is an industry initiative and the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (MoT, GoI), is supporting the initiative fully,” Goyal said.
The three-day event will take place at Vigyan Bhawan from September 16-18. The event is scheduled for the afternoon inauguration at about 2 pm at Vigyan Bhawan Auditorium. ITM is being organised by Mot, GoI, in association with Federation of Associations of India Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), an umbrella body of 10 leading industry associations of India representing travel agents, tour operators, hoteliers and event organisers.
