KTM plans road show in South Africa!

The astounding success of the Kerala Travel Mart is now going places! “Kerala Travel Mart is a biennial tourism. Hence a road show would be the best way to utilise the time between the two KTMs,” says Riaz Ahmed, MD of ABAD Hotels & Resorts and KTM president.

Kerala's backwaters are a preferred tourist pick

The Kerala Travel Mart society plans to organise its next road show in some of the important cities of South Africa like Cape Town and Johannesburg. Numerous road shows have been organised by the KTM in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Muscat earlier with government support. “There is great potential in the people of South Africa. Also there are a number of Indian origin people who have not got the chance to come to India,” explains Riaz Ahmed. "This is the reason we are planning for a road show there. An added impetus is the fact that Emirates has launched direct connectivity between Kerala and South Africa.”

When asked about the sixth edition of Kerala Travel Mart which was held in Bolgatty Palace, Kochi, he pointed out that it was a great success. In spite of the recession, there was 25% increase in the stalls when compared to last year. It surely was a great platform for the small players to exhibit their tourism products for the national as well as the international audience, he said.

KTM-10 expected to be attended by 2,000 delegates!

Launched in 2000, Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), which has been quoted as the biggest ever travel event in India, is back this season. Starting on September 23, KTM-2010 is expected to be attended by over 2,000 delegates from 54 countries.

Riaz Ahmed, President of KTM, told reporters, “The record registration by the buyers from different countries, including Poland, Finland, Mexico and South Africa, shows the interest of buyers’ world over in the tourism sector of Kerala. A total of 551 international and 1,621 domestic buyers have registered for KTM-10. The United Kingdom has the highest number of participants for this mart.”

‘Athithi devo bhava’ will be the theme of the sixth edition of the biennial event. “The objective behind selecting the theme was that tourism was considered as an eternal rainbow connecting the countries, continents, people and above all the ‘athithi and athitheya’,” said Mr. Ahmed.

The Kerala Travel Mart is a platform for the buyers and sellers to interact. To make it more effective, KTM is introducing the concept of ‘speed networking’—enabling the participants to meet each other at least once for two-and-a-half minutes. Mr Ahmed said that though two or three minutes may not be enough to work out a business deal, it will surely be helpful to break the ice.

The event will be held from September 23-26 at the Bolgatty Palace Hotel at Bolgatty Island, Cochin. The buyers at the KTM include tour operators, travel agents, airlines, event managers, travel writers and media personnel, or anyone who has the potential to buy the services offered by the tourism industry. The last day of the mart (September 26) will be open to the public.