The 9th edition of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) 2016 will be held in Jaipur from April 17-19, 2016. It will be inaugurated by the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje as the Chief Guest. While the inaugural session will be held at Hotel Lalit on April 17 – the pre structured meetings and exhibition will be held at the Jaipur Exhibition and Convention Center (JECC) in Sitapura. The Rajasthan Minister of State for Tourism, Art and Culture, Krishnendra Kaur (Deepa) and the Tourism Secretary, Government of India, Vinod Zutshi will also be present on the occasion.
The Director Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, Anil Chaplot said that over the years GITB has emerged as one of the most important travel marts for inbound tourism. I am sure the two-day event will see fruitful networking giving further boost to the travel trade business in the State.
In a span of eight years GITB has gone from strength to strength and is now a force to reckon with in the inbound tourism marts. This year there will be over 10,000 B2B structured pre-fixed meetings between buyers and sellers over two days. As many as 275 leading inbound foreign tour operators from 51 countries are participating as foreign buyers. Similarly, 280 Indian sellers — among whom are Tour Operators, Hotels, Resorts, Spa and Wellness, International Airline and State Tourism Boards – will be partaking in the bazaar.
The Immediate Past President of FICCI and Chairperson of the FICCI Tourism Committee, Dr. Jyotsna Suri said that a special feature of the GITB this year will be the release of a FICCI – MRSS Knowledge Paper on Inbound Tourism by the Chief Minister during the inaugural session. GITB has reinforced India as a world class tourism destination with exclusive focus on inbound tourism, she said.
Apart from Rajasthan, as many as eight state governments will be showcasing their tourism potential. These states are Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir.
It is to be noted that the Great Indian Travel Bazaar is organised by Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). It is supported by leading national and regional associations like Hotel & Restaurant Association of Rajasthan (HRAR), Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA) and Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators (RATO).