India Travel Mart begins tommorrow

Chandigarh, Mar 23 (UNI) The three-day India Travel Mart (ITM), which begins here from tommorrow would give a big boost to travel and tourism in northern India.

Dr Gulshan Sharma, executive director, Institute of Tourism&Future Management Trends (ITFT), said the mart would provide an opportunity to various states to project this region as single destination by offering joint package tours.

Dr Sharma said the current economic boom in the country and burgeoning middle class with disposable income would further fuel the growth of tourism in northern India.

He said ITM would focus on outbound, inbound and domestic tourism and promises to showcase the best from travel tourism, hospitality, cruises and the railways, which would offer online booking for the first time.

Dr Sharma opined that the mart would also help Chandigarh to shed the acronym of a transit station and to emerge as all-the-year destination.

He said the mart would allow buyers and sellers to get a good update of all the major products and services in the region and provide essential business-networking platform for the service providers.

According to ITM director Ajay Gupta, ''The mart is coming up with variety of holidays, destinations, packages and main highlights would be pilgrimage tourism, adventure tourism, eco-tourism, healthy tourism and wild life destinations.'' He said, ''The time at which ITM is being held at Chandigarh is perfect for summer holidays and round-the-year travel, vacations and business.'' He said Malaysia and Dubai are the partner country while Rajasthan is the partner state and Chandigarh Tourism is the host.

He informed that Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Goa, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Pondicherry would be the the leading exhibitors.

India Travel Mart will be inaugurated by UP Minister for Tourism Kwkab Hameed, he would also unveil plans for promoting tourism in his state which include cruise service from Varanasi to Allahabad and introducing of two new circuits named Mahabharat circuit and Sufi circuit.

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