by Suman Gupta
Mumbai, January 23: Participants from 55 Countries and 29 Indian States are exhibiting their destinations at OTM 2019, at the Bombay Exhibition Centre from January 23 to 25. The three-day tradeshow was inaugurated by Hon. Anil Kumarsingh GAYAN, SC, M.P., Hon’ble Minister of Tourism, Government of Mauritius; Satpal Maharaj, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand; H.E. Panos Kalogeropoulos, Ambassador of Greece; Thoyyib Mohamed, MD, Maldives Tourism; Dr. Raden Sigit Witjaksono, Director, Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Indonesia in the presence of a host of other dignitaries from India and abroad. OTM Mumbai has emerged as the largest travel trade show in Asia-Pacific, both in terms of participating sellers and rented area.
The show is a gateway to India’s 22 million outbound travellers and a billion-strong domestic travel market. It provides travel professionals with an opportunity to showcase their business at one of the largest travel source markets in the world. Western India, especially Mumbai forms the largest outbound and domestic travel market in India. South Indian source markets also prefer Mumbai as the port for international departures. Together, West and South India markets provide over 60% of the source market of Indian tourists. This has positioned OTM Mumbai as the one show in the India market which cannot be missed.
With the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India by its side, OTM sees active participation from the Ministry in several aspects. The Ministry is not only sponsoring Hosted Buyers from abroad to visit the show, it also supported the Cine Tourism Workshop on the inaugural day. Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) K J Alphons who inaugurated OTM 2018 will be the Chief Guest on the second day of OTM 2019.
OTM Mumbai is the largest and most international gathering of travel trade sellers and buyers in India, with more than 1,050 exhibitors and 15,000+ visitors. This yearly trade show is a unique opportunity to connect with key travel players across Asia. These include National and State Tourism Organisations, Hotels, Airlines, Destination Marketing Companies and other suppliers serving leisure as well as MICE markets.
Country pavilions have been set up by Indonesia, Thailand, Greece, Nepal, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, Maldives, Japan, Macao, Palestine, Tanzania, Cambodia, New Zealand, Egypt, Rwanda, Italy, Mauritius, China, Cyprus, Bahrain, Kenya, Romania, Fiji, Botswana, Kazakhstan and several other countries.
Among the Indian States, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Nagaland, Tripura and Delhi are participating at OTM.
Other marquee exhibitors at OTM 2019 include Travel Boutique Online, Bangkok Tourism Division – Bangkok Metropolitan Administration,Ezeego1.Com, Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau, Hotel & Restaurant Association of Bhutan, Trance Holiday and others.
Alongside buying and selling opportunities on the show floor, exhibitors from various countries and states are also slated to make cultural presentations. There will be an equally interesting line-up of panel discussions to be conducted on the sidelines of the mart. Eminent experts and leaders from the industry will deliberate on the latest issues and prospects related to Domestic, Inbound, Outbound, MICE and Niche Tourism.
CineLocales area within OTM is being created as a marketplace connecting film, television and advertising, production houses to global destinations and locations to the world’s largest filmmaking community.
50+ top production houses like Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Viacom and many others are likely to visit CineLocales at OTM 2019. A report on promoting film tourism within India sponsored by OTM and prepared by Ernst & Young (EY) will be released during the show.Parallel sessions on Destination Weddings, Cruise Tourism and Travel Technology are being organised at the show.
In keeping with the latest craze around destination weddings, OTM is the perfect platform to promote a destination as the preferred choice among wedding planners. Travel trade will get to meet top-notch wedding planners and attend sessions on wedding planning as well as destination weddings. Cruise Hub will provide an opportunity to travel traders to connect with the cruising community in India and abroad, expand their network and enhance business prospects.
OTM will organise an hour-long speed networking session where exhibitors can exclusively meet more than 800 qualified buyers on-the-spot to build and grow their network.Online Meeting Dairy is an initiative by OTM to help schedule meetings in advance to help optimise the participants’ time at the event.
An impressive array of experts from India and abroad will speak at the OTM Forum, on the broader theme of celebrating innovation in travel. Eminent speakers from companies like Thomas Cook Group, Travel Boutique Online, Thomas Cook India, AirAsia, Lonely Planet India,Thrillophilia.com, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, GoIbibo, Jet Airways, Indigo Airlines, Booking.com, Jio Studios, Phocuswright Inc., TravHQ and others will be present.
Cox and Kings, the Knowledge Partner of OTM, is conducting a destination workshop on China and Morocco on the first day of the show and Greece and Turkey on the second day from 3.00 pm onwards.Facebook is the Knowledge Partner for OTM Forum and will be conducting a specialised skill development workshop on digital marketing for travel companies.
OTM India’s Top 100 Travel Producer Awards will be presented at the show. Hundreds of travel producers from all over India will be attending the show to receive the award.
About Fairfest Media Ltd, organisers of OTM : Fairfest Media Ltd, founded in 1988 in Calcutta, has served more than 2,500 exhibitors from 80 countries through its TTF, OTM and BLTM branded shows. It is the largest travel trade show organiser in the country.
