New BLTM trade show debuts in India
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The inaugural Business & Luxury Travel Mart (BLTM) kicks off tomorrow at the Hyatt Regency Gurgaon.
The new event, which runs from 24-25 October, become India’s first travel mart focused on the MICE and luxury travel sectors.
More than 150 hosted buyers will attend BLTM, including domestic players from India and international buyers from countries including South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, France, Malaysia and the US. Each buyer is committed to 30 daily one-on-one meetings. In total there are 150 sellers from 50 organisations at the event.
In terms of international participation, Nepal, Taiwan and South Korea have the largest presence at the show, while China, Fiji, Dubai and South Africa are the “Feature Countries”.
“The main reason for our participation is to capture the MICE business from north India,” explained Byungsun Lee, director of the Korea Tourism Organisation’s India office. “BLTM belongs to a reputed travel trade brand and KTO expects a good first inaugural show. We are positive that the event will have healthy participants of buyers and sellers.”
Among the Indian states, Bengal Tourism has supported BLTM in a big way, hosting the networking lunches and buyer-seller dinners. Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir are the show’s “Feature States”.
Hotel chains at BLTM include FRHI Hotels & Resorts, which controls Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel, IHG, Taj, Starwood, Radisson, Lemon Tree and Banyan Tree. Hyatt has a corporate pavilion at BLTM, with participation from several properties.
Numerous travel trade associations will be present at the event, including the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) India, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), Enterprising Travel Agent’s Association (ETAA), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) and members of the media.
Anup Nair, president of SITE’s Indian chapter, commented; “The SITE India Chapter is very pleased to have been asked to be the ‘Knowledge Partner’ of BLTM in October 2016. SITE has curated an interesting discussion, which we hope will encourage and help more of our fraternity.”
Meanwhile, Akbar Holidays is the official “Travel Partner” of BLTM and Eco Rent A Car is the “Transportation Partner”.
In another first, a “MICE CLUB” is being launched at BLTM, with the objective of facilitating interaction and networking among buyers and sellers from business travel and MICE segments. Meanwhile, a series of panel discussions will be conducted at the exhibition. One of these, to be curated by the Film & Television Producers Guild of India, will be dedicated to using film shoots as a means of promoting Indian destinations.
“BLTM fills a vacuum in the evolution of travel trade shows in India, by introducing a sustainable large format show focused on business travel and MICE Buyers in a format where fully hosted buyers meet Sellers based on pre scheduled appointments. Smaller table-top shows have been organised in the past,” remarked Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman of Fairfest Media, which organises the BLTM.
The event will definitely return in 2017, and there are also plans to create separate editions dedicated to western and southern India.
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