The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Tripura and the North Eastern States is organizing the “International Tourism Mart” in Agartala, Tripura from the 22nd to 24th November 2018. The event will be held at the Pragna Bhawan, and will be inaugurated on 22nd November by the Governor of Tripura, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki, in the presence of Union Minister for Tourism, K.J Alphons, Chief Minister of Tripura, Biplab Kumar Deb, Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma and other dignitaries from Central Ministries and North Eastern States.
This is the 7th edition of the International Tourism Mart, an annual event organised in the North Eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets. It brings together the tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from the eight North Eastern States. The event has been planned and scheduled to facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, Government agencies and other stakeholders.
The International Tourism Marts are organised in the North Eastern States on rotation basis. The earlier editions of this mart have been held in Guwahati, Tawang, Shillong, Gangtok and Imphal.
The North East Region of India comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, is endowed with diverse tourist attractions and products. The varied topography of the region, its flora and fauna, the ethnic communities with their rich heritage of ancient traditions and lifestyles, its festivals, arts and crafts, make it a holiday destination waiting to be explored.
The ITM will see wide participation of International buyers and media delegates from countries around the world and from different regions of the country. They will be engaging in business-to-business meetings with sellers from the North Eastern Region. This will enable the tourism product suppliers from the region to reach out to international and domestic buyers, with the objective of promoting tourism to the region. A total of 41 foreign delegates from 18 countries namely Australia, Canada, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, UAE and USA will be in Tripura for the Mart. These include 23 Tour Operators & Travel Agents and 18 Media Representatives, Journalists, Travel Writers and Bloggers. Besides the foreign delegates, 26 domestic Tour Operators from other parts of the country and 78 sellers from the North Eastern States will participate in the Mart. Representatives of State Tourism Departments of these North East States will also be present to showcase their tourism destinations and to interact with the delegates.
In addition to the business interactions between the Tour Operators, the three-day event also includes presentations by state governments of the region on their tourism potential, panel discussion, cultural evenings, sightseeing visits to local attractions in and around Agartala and a press meet on 23rd November 2018. An exhibition by State Tourism Departments from the North Eastern States including display of beautiful handicrafts and handlooms is also being organized, to show case the tourism products of respective participating States.
Post-mart familiarisation tours to the North Eastern states have been arranged for the international delegates to create awareness about the rich and varied tourism products of the North Eastern region and to give them a first-hand experience of the destination.
