The 12th edition of the Kerala Travel Mart (KTM-2024) which will showcase a diverse range of the State’s tourism products before an international audience will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at hotel Le Meridien here on Thursday.
The four-day event will herald the resurgence of the tourism sector after the landslides in Wayanad.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister will honour former Chief Secretary V. Venu for his “outstanding contributions to the growth of Kerala Tourism.” Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas will preside. Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal will be the chief guest. Suman Billa, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Tourism, will deliver the keynote address.
The biennial mart organised by the KTM Society is particularly high on optimism, having the highest-ever buyers at 2,839, of whom 2,035 are from the country. The previous record was 1,305 in 2018. Of the 808 foreign buyers from 76 countries attending the mart, 67 are from the U.K., 245 from the rest of Europe, 60 from the countries in West Asia, 55 from the U.S., 34 from Russia and 41 are from Africa, while the rest are mostly from East Asia.
Maharashtra tops the list of domestic buyers with 578, followed by Delhi (340) and Gujarat (263).
Thursday’s inaugural ceremony will be followed by three days of business sessions — all of them to be held at the Sagara-Samudrika Convention Centre on Willingdon Island. The mart will also host an expo, which will be open to public on Sunday.
Focal points
At the inaugural event, Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan will release a ‘Seller’s Directory’ while Tourism Secretary K. Biju will make a presentation on Kerala Tourism highlighting the focal points of KTM-2024 — Responsible Tourism, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) Tourism, and Kerala as a wedding and cruise destination.
Dedicated app
The mart that is being assisted by the Kerala Tourism heralds a “total digital revolution” as the organisers have readied a software to ensure the smooth and effective conduct of the B2B meetings. The app would help adherence to the green protocol and enable 20 B2B meetings each on Friday and Saturday and 10 meetings on Sunday, said S. Swaminathan, secretary of the KTM Society.
As a run-up to KTM-2024, a four-day pre-mart tour began on September 22, involving mediapersons, vloggers and social media influencers. From September 30, there will be a five-day post-mart tour across the State, including to tourism locales in Wayanad, for select buyers attending the event.
Published – September 24, 2024 07:32 pm IST
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