Goa International Travel Mart to be held from October 21-23, 2011

The second edition of the Goa International Travel Mart (GITM) organised jointly by Department of Tourism, Government of Goa and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Bambolim from October 21-23, 2011. The theme for the Mart this year is ‘Unearth the Hidden Treasures of Goa.’ The organisers of the event have planned an aggressive marketing strategy to attract over 2500 trade visitors to GITM 2011, of which 450 will be hosted buyers. TravelBiz Monitor is once again the knowledge partner for this year’s event.

“We expect an even larger participation this year at GITM, which will benefit the entire industry in the state. The Mart was a great success last year and is now slated to be an annual event. GITM 2010 was a power-packed event which saw hosted buyer-seller interactive sessions, panel discussions and knowledge sharing sessions, networking dinners and FAM trips. The three-day event witnessed participation from over twelve countries including Singapore, South Africa, Canada, UK, Italy, Poland, Russia, and Brazil,” stated Swapnil Naik, Director, Goa Tourism.

Commenting on the second edition of the Mart, Richard Dias, Head - Business Development, Radioactive Entertainment, the official marketing agency of GITM said, “Through the theme, ‘Unearth the Hidden Treasures of Goa' the aim is to highlight Goa's unexplored regions. Goa as a destination has a variety of offerings and products which we hope to showcase through the Mart. We had 1,400 visitors at GITM 2010 and we are expecting a significant growth this year. Our promotional strategy will involve advertising campaigns in the major travel trade magazines and we will also be looking to organise road shows in the four metros, as well as cities like Ahmedabad and Kolkata, which are major markets for Goa.”

According to Dias, the Department of Tourism, Government of Goa and GTDC will be hosting approximately 450 buyers of which 150 will be international buyers for GITM 2011. Dias added, “We are also looking to bring in smaller single resort owners, as well as, stand alone and mid-sized resorts. We will try to ensure that the buyer-seller interaction at GITM 2011 is managed better and will make it easier for buyers and sellers to pre-fix meetings. GITM 2011 is going to be scaled up from 2010.”

MTOA to reach out to tour operators through workshops and FAM trips

In order to increase its membership base and reach out to tour operators in the state, Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA) has planned to conduct a series of workshops and FAM trips. The Association will conduct a seminar on Service Tax in association with Service Tax Department, Government of Maharashtra sometime in August 2011 and is also planning to ogranise a one-day Agri-Tourism FAM tour to Baramati in Pune in the same month. Around 30 travel trade members and a few media persons will be taken on this FAM tour, which is being organised in association with Pandurang Taware, Managing Director, Marketing, Agri Tourism Development Corporation. This information was provided by Atul Mohile, President, MTOA.

Commenting on the membership drive Mohile said, “MTOA currently has 107 members and we expect to have at least 250 members by end of next year. Earlier we used to receive good response from tour operators in regions like Dhule, Nashik, Manmad and Ahmednagar. However, the numbers of new members has reduced in past few years from these regions owing to a lapse in communication. We aim to promote our Association in these regions and other areas, and expect a large number of tour operators to join us in a short span of time.” He also stressed the need to develop and promote Konkan region as a tourist destination. According to Mohile, Konkan has good potential to be developed as a year round destination but is hampered by lack of adequate infrastructure and connectivity. The latter is a major problem, especially during monsoon on account landslides in the hilly terrain disrupting rail and road traffic very often. 

Incessant rains boost tourism in Dharamshala

Incessant rains in Himachal Pradesh have given a fillip to tourism, as hundreds of tourists are flocking to the famous hill station, Dharamsala. Also known as Mini Lhasa, Dharamsala, home to many monasteries, is a centre of Buddhist learning and attracts foreign tourists every year.

According to a report in DNA, the tourist-influx has also set the cash registers ringing for the travel and tourism industry. Kartar Singh, a taxi driver said, "This year, tourism is really booming as a good number of tourists are coming everyday. It is a favourable time for hotels as they are packed with tourists. But it's a difficult time for cars, as there is very limited space for parking of vehicles, which create traffic jams. People often get stuck in these, which is the only problem for tourists."

Over the last few years, Himachal Pradesh has emerged as the preferred destination for tourists after separatist-related violence ruled out tourism in northern Jammu and Kashmir

Train for Katra from 2012

According to newspaper "Navbharat Times" dated 14.06.2011 Railway is going to launch its train till Katra in 2012.

Indian Railways to launch new web portal

According to a PTI report, Indian Railways will soon launch a new web portal. The website will contain information related to passenger services for the convenience of travellers. The information will primarily include journey planners, e-ticketing, retiring room booking, train arrival/departure information, and PNR status. A senior Northern Railways officer said that the new web portal will provide web-based complaint management and SMS complaint management. The portal will offer services to passengers for freight services which includes information about rakes. “This will also provide tracking facility of the rakes on the portal. On the parcel services front, the portal will provide information about parcel rules, have a parcel charges calculator, parcel rates and parcel tracking information,” the official said.