Kerala travel mart

 

KTM 2014 will be held from 18^th - 20^th Sep’14 at Kochi, Kerala. A new venue has been chosen this time called  “Samudrika Convention Centre” located at the cruise terminal, Willingdon Island, Cochin and overlooking the backwaters. This single floor layout, which in itself will be the major highlight, is fully air conditioned, with a business centre, food courts, seminar hall and all the basic amenities. The inaugural function is scheduled for the evening on 17^th Sep’14 at Le Meridien, Cochin.

A Kerala Village Theme is being planned for this edition of KTM which will give a glimpse of the rural life of Kerala. Adding a plethora of responsible elements, the village life presents a wide range of opportunities for the tour operators to create itineraries based on the Kerala Villages. The Mart will also showcase Kerala, as an ideal spot for Destination weddings as well as MICE.

The response from the buyers has been overwhelming, with 525 International buyers and around 1700 Domestic buyers registered so far. Out of this, 273 International buyers and 803 Domestic buyers have already reconfirmed their participation. KTM 2014 will undoubtedly be a great platform for B2B networking. The buyers’ registration is open till 15^th JUL’14.
 The Buyers and the Accommodation Committees have begun the process of allotment of rooms to the reconfirmed Buyers.

The software is being tested for the appointment system which will begin by 30^th Jul’14.

UK, Spain, Germany France and Russia top the list of International buyers, around 25-30 from each country. However, the distinctive feature of this edition of KTM is the participation from relatively new markets for Kerala, like Australia (30) South Africa (12)  Malaysia (36) and a strong presence from Scandinavia, Netherlands, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin American countries right from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru.

The Sellers’ (Exhibitors) response too has been tremendous  where all the 245 stalls were sold out in a record time of just  two days. Hotels & Resorts (137 including groups), Tour operators & DMCs (52), Homestays (12), Houseboat operators (07), Ayurveda Resorts (08) , Ayurveda Centres (07), Hotel Management consultants ( 8) form the major chunk of the exhibitors along with other service providers like Adventure tour operators,  Farm stays, Tourism associations, Tourism technology providers, Event managers,  Amusement Parks, Convention Centres, Private Museums, and Speciality hospitals occupying rest of the space.

The Stalls are being laid out in 4 categories of sizes which easily enabled the Exhibitors / Sellers to book online the stalls in the size of their choice.
The Post Mart FAM Tours to 07 different circuits have been another major highlight of the Mart with most of the tours already booked to capacity.