Tourists thronged the eighth edition of the tourism fest in Kerala's Kochi city, which is organised once every two years to bring new business prospects and initiatives to the state.
The Kerala Travel Mart society hosted this mega event in partnership with the government to bring together the business entrepreneurs behind tourism products and services of Kerala on a single platform.
It is perhaps the largest gathering in the tourism industry of Kerala that facilitates the meeting and interaction of buyers, sellers and the media.
Tour operators, hotels, resorts, home stays, houseboats, Ayurveda resorts, cultural art centers and many others showcased their products and services at the fest.
"It's a platform to create a business venue and inviting the tour operators from different parts of the world and India. Having a three- day business to business meeting and both sellers and buyers get benefit. Once in every two years it happens. The meeting will definitely help the sellers in coming years," said Kerala Tourism Mart (KTM) President Abraham George.
Ever since its inception, there has been an overwhelming response from national and international buyers, which has reflected in the steady escalation of the variety of products and in the number of participants.
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The event is held once in two years during the month of September and the stupendous success of each Mart has inspired the KTM Society to innovate, think out-of-the-box and take each Mart to the next level.
British tourist James Sheen said that Kerala is a very important destination for people who have not visited India earlier.
"This is a really excellent destination. I think it is a place for someone who has never been to India before. This is a soft destination because it doesn't have quite the harshness of the north. There is beautiful scenery, very green and it also has some very good hotels. So, I think it's a very important destination for people who have not visited India before to start in," said Sheen.
KTM 2014 will reach out to Buyers from new markets like Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Sweden and USA.
The Mart highlights innovative tourism products like village life experience, culture tours and destination wedding themes.
