The Eleventh Edition of Kerala Travel Mart – country’s largest tourism industry congregation will be inaugurated by the State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
on May 5th.
The much awaited Mart comes with huge expectations for the stakeholders of the first and worst affected industry due to the spread out of Covid-19 pandemic.
The conclave is expected to boost Kerala’s revival of the tourism sector by attracting visitors from across the world after two years of slide owing to Covid-19.
Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas will chair the inaugural function at Grand Hyatt in Bolgatty, Kochi. The event will have business meets on May 6th and 7th at Sagara and Samudrika Convention Centres at Willingdon Island. In continued spirit of giving a fillip to local tourism, public will be given access to the pavilions at both venues for five hours from 13:00 hrs on May 8th.
Organisers have charted a pre-KTM tour for travel media, vloggers and delegates from within the country and abroad to show the beauty and variety of Kerala’s destinations. There will also be a similar post-event tour for select buyers attending the mart.
The upcoming mart, which is to be totally paper-free in a space of 1.5 lakh square feet, will feature exhibitions on key tourism themes, KTM Society Secretary Jose Pradeep said.
Already an encouraging number of international and domestic buyers have registered for KTM, which is also set to give prominence to the government’s tourism initiatives in upstate Malabar. Buyers from 69 countries have registered for KTM 2022.
Last year, the KTM had organised a virtual summit in March, facilitating more than 7,000 business meets that enabled the travel industry to take major strides in overcoming the Covid-triggered economic crisis. That online event saw a virtual buyers’ meet with participants from across the world, including India.
The 2000-constituted KTM Society, which is the country’s biggest organization in the travel and tourism segment, has been working towards reviving the industry since the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the state two years ago.
