Widely recognised as India’s leading travel trade show, OTM is all set to be the meeting place of the largest ever number of global sellers and buyers of tourism industry.
OTM 2017 will be held in Mumbai, the largest source market for leisure and MICE travel in the country, from 21–23 February, at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.
More than a 1000 sellers from 50 countries are likely to exhibit at the OTM 2017. These include National and State Tourism Organisations, Hotels, Airlines, Destination Marketing Companies and other suppliers serving leisure as well as MICE markets.
5447 qualified buyers and travel trade visitors have already registered for visiting OTM 2017. There are 814 fully and partly hosted buyer registrations, which is the largest number of hosted buyers in any travel trade show in India. The hosted buyers will be matched with the sellers and appointments will be scheduled in advance for face to face meetings during the show.
The total number of visitors is likely to cross 10,000, as in previous years.
According to data published by India’s Ministry of Tourism, 20.38 million Indians took foreign trips out of India in 2015 (11.1% higher than 2014). The number of domestic trips within India was a whopping 1432 million (11.6% higher than in 2014). In contrast, the number of foreign tourist arrival was 8.03 million (4.05% higher than in 2014). OTM caters to all of these markets.
According to UNWTO, the number of Indian outbound travellers will grow to approximately 50 million in 2020, contributing $28 billion in expenditure.
Mumbai is the biggest source market for the outbound and domestic tourists in India. Together with its hinterland markets in the West & South India, it commands 60% of the total outbound tourists from India. It is also the strongest market of Business, Luxury and MICE travel for international as well as domestic segments.
Countries at OTM 2017 include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Fiji, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE and country representations from Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.
An officer of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, who has one of the largest pavilion in the OTM commented, “We have been attending OTM for seven years. Every year we are expecting more tourists from India. We are also promoting Turkey as a wedding destination.” The Director of Thailand Tourism in Mumbai said: “We are delighted to be associated with OTM, which is one the biggest B2B trade fairs in the tourism industry.” The Egyptian Tourism Counsellor in Mumbai said: “OTM is one of the most prominent travel trade events in India and this year I can see even more interest from the Egyptian private sector to participate at the show.”
Indian destinations are not far behind their international counterparts with Andaman & Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Telangana and state representations from Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu confirming their participation to showcase India at its best.
The Director of Goa Tourism who are a regular participant at the OTM said: “Platforms like OTM give us an opportunity to interact with various travel and trade operators and we are hopeful that such participations will surely help us showcase our unique Goan products and services.”
OTM 2017 shall be co-located with the Mumbai edition of BLTM - India’s definitive show on Business Travel, Luxury and MICE segments, where qualified hosted buyers meet the sellers by appointments.
Fairfest was the first mover in India in the space of travel marts. It was established in 1989. Its OTM is now India’s largest travel trade show on the basis of number sellers as well as buyers.
OTM is supported by Incredible India, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA), IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI), Maharashtra Tour Operators Association (MTOA), Travel Agents Association of Pune (TAAP), Travel Agents Association of Nashik (TAAN), South Gujarat Association of Travel Agents (SATA).
President of OTOAI endorses: “The quality of suppliers that OTM brings along with new products attracts OTOAI to bring in quality buyers who have demonstrated quality and quantity in outbound tourism industry.” President, IATO says: “Every year the travel trade fraternity looks forward to OTM because it has an exceptional ability to bind the tourism industry under one roof.” President of ADTOI says: “OTM is one of the sought after travel marts where buyer-seller meets take place and generate good business for the industry players.” National Coordinator of NIMA commented: “OTM is the largest ever show being organised in India for the travel fraternity. It provides a big opportunity for agents doing MICE business.”
In addition to buying and selling opportunities on the show floor, exhibitors from various countries and states will also make colourful cultural presentations. There will be an equally interesting line up of panel discussions conducted on the sidelines of the mart. Eminent experts and leaders from the industry will deliberate on the latest issues and prospects related to Domestic, Inbound, Outbound, MICE, Niche Tourism.
Films play an important role in promoting tourism. Mumbai being one of the biggest global hubs of film production, OTM is partnering with Film and TV Producers Guild of India to organise an exclusive event on the opening day of OTM focused on promoting tourism through films shoots, which will be attended by international and state tourism boards and leading film production companies.
The Founder & CEO of Fairfest Media Ltd, the organisers of OTM summed up: “Tourism industry in India will show off as the next big thing at OTM 2017, with the largest ever gathering of buyers and sellers, from around the world.” He adds: “We are especially excited because OTM has emerged as the largest travel trade show in India in terms of exhibit area, number of sellers and buyers.”