The event aimed to foster connections between tourism brands across different verticals and the Mumbai travel trade community.
The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) successfully concluded the inaugural edition of the ETAA Business Partners Meet 2024 on 20th August in Mumbai. The event aimed to foster connections between tourism brands across different verticals and the Mumbai travel trade community.
Exceeding expectations for a first edition, the event attracted 25 exhibitors and 80 participants from around 150 registrations. Supported by Tourism Malaysia and Visit Qatar, the meet featured prominent exhibitors such as Fishtail Tours & Travels, Rupee Boss, and SATTE, among others.
Sharing enthusiasm for the first edition, Jagat Mehta, President & Board Member of EETA, shared that ETAA is planning to take it to other cities where other ETAA members are. He further added, “This is more intimate than the big exhibitions because of a closer interaction of the exhibitors with the members. We are very happy with the outcome, along with great support from the exhibitors, even when we finalized the event in just 7 days.”
When asked about the response, Dipti Thakoor, Board Member & Event Head, ETAA expressed, “ETAA has been conducting knowledge sessions regularly, but this thought came up in our minds why not doing a show where different verticals from travel and trade avail an opportunity to connect better. It is our first attempt; we are glad that we anticipated 20 tables but booked 25 tables. The tables were sold out in 8 days, and we received registrations of more than 150 agents.”
Further on the response, Dharmesh Advani, National General Secretary, ETAA, mentioned, “Being our first event, we got an overwhelming response from agents as well as exhibitors. Close to 80 agents and 25 exhibitors got a chance to interact with each other with enjoyed a lucky draw every 30 minutes”. According to him, the exhibitors were a mix of international and domestic DMC’s, visa facilitators, hotel chain, airlines & tourism boards.
T3 also explored the exhibitors’ perspective, to which Jane D’cruz, Marketing Manager, Tourism Malaysia – Mumbai Office, responded, “We can see good quality crowd at the event. We are here to meet small players, not the big giants, who are equally serious. We are very happy with the response; the footfall is good along with quality. We are definitely look forward to its further editions.”
On the similar lines, Akshay Kalyankar, Tourist Information Officer, IndiaTourism Mumbai, MoT, GoT, also shared that the aim is to promote India and its various products, and at the same time, bring as many tourism service providers under the umbrella of MoT. “The response at this show has exceeded my expectations. We met people from various segments, and it is a very good platform for us, that enables the marketing of products, services, and most importantly, networking”, added Kalyankar.
