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[dropcap]M[/dropcap]umbai: Close to 1,200 sellers are confirmed as exhibitors at OTM 2018, to be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai from January 18-20.
Over 45 National Tourist Organisations (NTOs) and more than 21 Indian State Tourism Boards (STBs) will be setting up country and state pavilions at OTM 2018.
The largest travel show in the Asia Pacific is on target to witness 300 hosted buyers and 15,000 trade visitors.
Turkey, Greece and Thailand are three largest Partner Country pavilions, returning to OTM.
Turkey is the Premier Partner Country at OTM 2018.
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir are the largest Partner State pavilions this year.
Host state Maharashtra is also putting up a large pavilion to showcase its destinations.
The leading tour operator Cox & Kings has signed up with for the next three years as the Knowledge Partner, starting OTM 2018.
OTM has partnered with TravHQ, to organise Travel Technology Track, with sessions on innovative travel tech solutions, panel discussions with industry thought-leaders and digital skill development workshops.
Phocuswright, the global travel market research company, will be also conducting a session at OTM 2018.
What makes OTM unique?
OTM Mumbai has emerged as the largest travel trade show in the Asia-Pacific region. On the two parameters – the number of participants and gross exhibition area rented by the organisers, OTM has gained an edge over ITB Asia and SATTE; the other two leading shows in the Asia Pacific region.
OTM 2017 also had participants from a larger number of countries (45) when compared to SATTE 2017 (40), as per publicly available information that can be verified.
According to a visitor survey, approximately 76% of the trade visitors at OTM 2017 did not visit any other show in India. It shows OTM is visited by unique buyers from Western India and Mumbai, not accessible through any other show.
Approximately a quarter of OTM’s buyers are from outside Mumbai, out of which half are from Delhi. This data highlights that OTM is also effective in providing access to trade buyers and visitors from all over India.
Mumbai serves as a gateway city to the largest chunk of India’s outbound market. It is also the largest source market in India of business, luxury, MICE and domestic travel in India. This is a great factor behind OTM’s success and emergence as the largest travel trade show in the Asia-Pacific region.
India is ranked among one of the fastest emerging travel destinations in the world as Indians continue to take more than a billion domestic and 20 million international visits annually.
The advent of online technologies has enabled the travel sector to further utilise its potential. Keeping in mind the business prospects, an easy-to-use online meeting diary to fix appointment between buyers and sellers has been scheduled this year.
Exhibitors at OTM
All in all, OTM 2018 will be showcasing the National Tourist Organisations (NTOs) of India, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Fiji, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Macau, Maldives, Nepal, New Zealand, Palestine, Romania, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey.
To tap into the booming travel market of India, country representatives from Bulgaria, Canada, Dubai, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan and Vietnam will also be making it to the Asia Pacific’s largest travel show.
The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is also expected to have a strong presence at the show. Major Indian destinations, too, are not far behind their international counterparts. The Indian State Tourism Boards of Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Manipur, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Chandigarh, Punjab, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram will be ensuring their representation with a large number of sellers to showcase India at its best.
Buyer’s Turnout
More than 300 corporate buyers from renowned companies have scheduled meetings. They will be visiting the show from all over India to meet the pool of exhibitors showcasing their products and services at OTM 2018.
Major companies include, DDB Mudra, Corporate Flyers, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Gammon Infrastructure Projects, Aircel, WOV Travel Company, Crowley Accord Marine Management, Expedition 2 India, The Travel Planners, Seven Vows – A Planned Chaos, Intellect Life Sciences, Eventzinspired, Prime Connections, Wander Globe, Sterling Hospitals, Magma Fincorp, Scotch and Water Innovations, Gionee and many others.
QUOTES
“I am happy to know that Fairfest Media is organising OTM, which has emerged as the leading travel trade show in the Asia Pacific region, with a large number of national and international stakeholders from the global tourism industry participating. I understand that organisers have a proven track record of pioneering and curating international tourism marts all across the country for the last 28 years. I look forward to being a part of the event and wish the upcoming edition of OTM all the very best!”
– KJ Alphons, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, Government of India
“I am sure that the national and international tourism destinations and travel products will find OTM a useful platform for marketing to and transacting business with the fast growing Indian travel industry. OTM will also be a useful platform to exchange ideas and opportunities for cooperation between the various tourism stakeholders, for promoting domestic and inbound tourism. I am given to understand that exhibitors and trade visitors at the mart will be able to set up pre-fixed appointments to maximise the business opportunities. Sessions on film tourism, destination weddings, travel blogging, MICE etc planned on the sidelines will also provide additional educational and networking opportunities.”
– Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India
“It is praiseworthy that Fairfest Media Ltd is organising this show since last 30 years with a view to providing a platform for the stakeholders of the travel and tourism industry to meet network and explore opportunities for tourism exchanges between countries, states and regions. I hope that this travel show will help in promoting tourism and popularising tourist destinations in the country including Maharashtra. I extend my best wishes to organisers and all participants and wish OTM a grand success.”
– Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra
“I understand that with over 1,100 exhibitors from 45 countries and 21 Indian states, OTM 2018 will be India’s biggest-ever travel trade show. Maharashtra Tourism is happy to lend its full support as the Host State. Our big participation at OTM over the years underlines the importance of which our Government attaches to tourism as an economic driver. I wish all the exhibitors and visitors at OTM good business and a comfortable and enjoyable stay in Mumbai and Maharashtra.”
– Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra
