Travel and Tourism Fair, one of the leading travel trade shows in the country, kicked off here today to exploit the huge travel and tourism potential in Eastern India.
The three-day fair would showcase 400 sellers from 28 states and 13 countries. The show has grown 10 per cent in terms of number of participants and revenue, compared to last year, West Bengal Tourism Secretary Manish Jain said after inaugurating the fair.
Welcoming all participants, West Bengal Tourism Minister Goutam Deb, who was not present on the occasion, said in a message, "With tourism being a priority sector in the state, West Bengal is looking forward to TTF Kolkata, which I hope will have the presence of many national and international tourism stakeholders. This will surely help in promoting tourism in the region."
"With the increasing importance of Outbound and Inbound potential in the East and Southeast Asia, Kolkata serves as a strategically important gateway for the industry," said Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman and CEO of the organisers Fairfest Media Ltd.
TTF Kolkata has maintained a steady growth, signalling positive sentiments in the travel trade, despite the headwinds due to demonetization and uncertainties of the GST regime from July 1, 2017, he said.
Ranked as the third wealthiest city in India (after Mumbai and Delhi), Kolkata has a unique tradition of taking domestic and outbound trips in large numbers especially during the puja holidays, he added.
24 States are participating in the TTF Kolkata, with their official pavilions. The biggest state pavilions included West Bengal as the Host State. While Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were 'Partner States'.
Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi and Jharkhand are participating as 'Feature States'.
There are also large number of participants from Haryana, Odisha, Punjab, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
Six foreign countries have set up pavilions in TTF Kolkata at the level of their National Tourism Organisations.
SRI LANKA Tourism is participating for the first time, with a huge pavilion, with more than a dozen of hotels and operators from the country.
Other foreign countries participating at the level of their National Tourism Organisations included Bangladsh, China, Macao, Nepal and Thailand.
Additionally, private sector participants from Bhutan, Canada, Japan, Myanmar, UAE and USA have added feathers to the TTF this year.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
