Thursday, February 25, 2021
TTF Kolkata, the oldest travel trade show in India is back on the ground, manifesting the revival and setting the wheels of the tourism industry in India with confidence. The 2021 edition of the show promises to bring the best and the most of the travel industry for reviving and restarting tourism in India. More than a 140 exhibitors and representatives from 13 states are showing up at TTF, from February 26-28 at a brand-new venue Uttirno in Alipore, in the heart of the city.
India’s oldest travel trade show organisers aims to pioneer travel and tourism revival with the oldest show in the multicity TTF series. The year 2021 is beginning on a hopeful note for the travel and tourism industry. With the vaccination drive underway, traveler confidence seems to be coming back. Air travel has exceeded 85% of its pre-covid levels 1. There is also a strong revival of demand for domestic leisure travel and hotel bookings have reached three-fourth (75%) of pre-COVID levels.
According to leading travel agents, while international travel may restart later in the year, business travel within India has also recovered almost half-way (50%) and is soon likely to reach the levels of previous year. Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media, the organisers of TTF said in a statement that they are extremely happy to report that the confidence in domestic travel is growing by leaps and bounds and shared that a special series of shows have been launched in Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai in Feb-Mar this year, to assemble pioneers in reopening travel destinations,and to market in the top three markets in India.
West Bengal Tourism has joined as the Host State of the show while Gujarat is the Premium Partner State and the Statue of Unity is the Partner Destination. Uttarakhand and Rajasthan are the Partner States while Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura have already joined the show as Feature States, alongside key private players from DMCs, hospitality sector, aviation and others. Air India is the Official Partner of the show this year. India Tourism will also be present.
This year, TTF Kolkata is also hosting a panel discussion on Domestic tourism: Leading the way in reviving travel & tourism in India, right after the inaugural ceremony. In addition, Rajasthan Tourism is hosting a destination presentation for travel agents. Some other tourism boards might host similar presentations on the remaining days of TTF Kolkata. TTF Kolkata has the support of TAAB, TAHAT, OTOAI, ATOAI, TAAI, ADTOI, IATO, IAAI, ETAA, SKAL International.
The show will be open to travel trade visitors only on February 26, from 11 am to 7 pm and on February 27 February, from 11 am to 2 pm. The second half of the second day and all of the last day of will be open to all. TTF Kolkata 2021-one of the very first and major travel trade shows to be hosted in 2021 will be followed by TTF Ahmedabad on March 4-6. Both shows will culminate in the grand finale of OTM Mumbai, to be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre on March 19-21.
The Government of India has given a fresh push to reviving domestic tourism under its ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative and TTF Kolkata will add to the country-wide efforts in reviving tourism. The Ministry has also revised its Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme at the beginning of the year to incentivise and upskill the travel trade fraternity. One of the biggest draws of the MDA happens to be the financial incentives chalked out for travel agents, tour operators as well as state tourism boards for participating in trade fairs.
Tags: travel and tourism fair, TTF, TTF Kolkata
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
