Kerala Travel Mart deferred to May 5-8, 2022 due to Covid surge

Trav Buzz News, News Desk, 01 Feb 2022

The eleventh edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), India’s largest tourism industry congregation originally scheduled for March 24-27, has been postponed to May 5 to 8 at Kochi in view of the current surge in Covid-19 across the world.

The revised schedule of the event was announced by Dr Venu V, Additional Chief Secretary , Tourism,   Shri V R Krishna Teja, Director   of Tourism,  KTM Society President Shri Baby Mathew and Secretary Shri Jose  Pradeep said at an online press conference today.Former presidents and managing committee members of KTM Society were also present.

The inaugural ceremony of the event, being organised by the KTM Society, will be followed by three days of deliberations at Sagara and Samudrika Convention Centre in Willingdon Island in Kochi.

Dr Venu said KTM 2022 has been postponed to ensure the safe health of more  than 1,000 buyers attending the meet.

The KTM meet is of crucial importance in the state’s efforts to revive the pandemic-hit tourism sector by attracting visitors from across the world, they said.

Coming close on the heels of the launch of the state government’s Caravan Tourism project ‘Keravan Kerala’, the upcoming edition of KTM will have caravan tourism and adventure tourism as the main themes. Alongside, the internationally-acclaimed responsible tourism, too, will receive prominent attention.

 Kerala is readying up to serve again its visitors with new travel destinations and innovative tourism products, said Shri Krishna Teja.

KTM comes at a time when the travel industry is looking at the nascent Caravan Tourism with renewed hope, Shri Mathew noted. The concept has immense potential to fetch Kerala a special place in the world tourism map, as did Houseboat Tourism earlier, he added.

Organisers have charted a pre-KTM tour for vloggers from within the country and abroad to show the beauty and variety of Kerala’s destinations. A similar journey will be conducted after the event for select buyers attending the mart, Shri Baby Mathew revealed.

The upcoming mart will be conducted in a space of one lakh square feet, which will be totally paper-free, Shri Jose Pradeep of KTM Society said.

KTM former president Shri Abraham George said the May event will feature exhibitions on Caravan Tourism and Responsible Tourism. Those who have registered for the edition, originally slated to be held in March, need not repeat the act, he added.

The government is coordinating among various departments to carry forward Caravan Tourism, a pioneering project being developed on PPP mode with private investors, tour operators and local communities as key stakeholders to ensure safe, customized and closest-to-nature travel experience. This time, KTM will also give prominence to the government’s tourism initiatives in upstate Malabar.

KTM 2022will give greater attention to domestic buyers, given that tourists within the country have resumed travel even as several foreign countries are yet to fully resume travel to India revoking the pandemic-induced restrictions.

Already more than 1,100 international and domestic buyers have registered for KTM. Having devised novel ways to woo them, organisers are optimistic about a steady rise in their number once the pandemic shows further signs of abatement.

More than 100 media representatives across the globe have registered to cover KTM 2022.

Organisers have charted a pre-KTM tour for mediapersons including vloggers from the country and abroad to show the beauty and variety of Kerala’s travel destinations. A similar journey is being conducted after the event for select buyersattending the mart in May.

Last year, the KTM had organized a virtual summit in March, facilitating more than 7,000 business meets that enabled the travel industry to take major strides in overcoming the Covid-triggered economic crisis. That online event saw a virtual buyers’ meet with participants from across the world, including India.