Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will inaugurate the latest edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) at Grand Hyatt in Bolgatty on Thursday.
The flagship event of Kerala Tourism returns after the pandemic-induced break of two years and is expected to chart the path for reviving and giving a much needed boost to the travel and tourism industry hit hard by the pandemic.
Prominent industrialist M.A. Yusuff Ali will be the guest of honour. A sample show of the Champions Boat League, a water race being organised by Kerala Tourism, modelled along the Indian Premier League, will be one of the major highlights of the opening session.
The subsequent sessions of KTM-2022 from Friday will be held at Sagara and Samudrika convention centres on Willingdon Island. The event will feature no less than 55,000 business meets. Public will be allowed into the pavilions for five hours from 1 p.m. on the concluding day.
The paper-less event is scheduled to take place on 1.5-lakh sq ft space, said KTM Society president Baby Mathew. It will feature 325 stalls.
Various seminars attended by officials, experts and stakeholders will be held as part of showcasing the State’s tourism sector before a global audience. Exhibitions on key tourism themes will be a major attraction of the mart being organised as a public-private partnership event.
Caravan and adventure tourism are some of the key attractions of KTM-2022, which will have delegates from 69 countries and nearly 1,300 domestic and international buyers.
Pre-KTM tour
Organisers have charted a pre-KTM tour for vloggers and media delegates from within the country and abroad to show the variegated beauty of top Kerala destinations. There will also be a similar post-event tour for select buyers attending the mart, which gives prominence to the government’s tourism initiatives in upstate Malabar
Last year, the KTM 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. The online event saw a virtual buyers’ meet with participants from across the world, including India.
