Kerala Travel Mart 2024 creates history in B2B meetings

Kochi (Kerala), Sep 29 (PTI) The 12th edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) created a record in its history with the Asia's biggest tourism sector event registering more than 75,000 business-to-business (B2B) meetings during its three days of proceedings, which concluded here on Sunday, according to organisers.

The biennial event has clocked around 55,000 B2B meetings in 2022.

According to KTM Society president, Jose Pradeep, KTM 2024 paved the way for the tourism sector's vital transformation through cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), a statement said here.

KTM Society secretary S Swaminathan informed that over 75,000 scheduled and unscheduled B2B meetings were held through the KTM software alone.

The interactions were made possible by scanning a simple, user-friendly QR code, it said.

As many as 2,000 domestic buyers from different states and about 800 foreign buyers from 75 countries converged at the event at the Sagara-Samudrika Convention Centre in Willingdon Island, it said.

KTM 2024, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, featured 347 stalls at a sprawling area of one-and-a-half lakh sq feet, adhering to strict green protocols.

Four seminar sessions on vital topics related to the tourism sector were also held on the sidelines of the event.

It sought to position the state as a prime destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism and wedding/honeymoon packages, it said.

While wedding and cruise tourism earned focus at the four-day event organised by KTM Society, more than 2,800 buyers and stalls totaling 347 made the 12th edition the busiest in the history of the biennial event, the statement further said.

KTM Society, which is now into its silver-jubilee year, has made meaningful contributions to public-private partnership in tourism, which is the state's most dynamic economic segment, Kerala Tourism director Sikha Surendran said.

As the premier body of the state's travel and hospitality industry, the Society has played a "vital role in this successful collaboration", she noted at the valedictory ceremony presided over by KTM president Jose Pradeep with India Tourism Regional Director D Venkatesan as the chief guest.

By presenting before a global audience how the state lives up to its reputation as "God's Own Country", the KTM hosted an array of business sessions and panel discussions besides a mega exhibition, Surendran pointed out.

"These will impart scale and speed to Kerala Tourism, known for its resilience and innovativeness to generate novel ideas and models," she added, highlighting the best use of new technology and participation of local communities in Responsible Tourism activities. PTI LGK KH