BLTM celebrates successful inaugural show
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The organisers of the inaugural Business & Luxury Travel Mart (BLTM) in India have hailed the event a success.
The event, which took place at the Hyatt Regency Gurgaon from 24-25 October 2016, was the first travel mart in India to focus on business, MICE and luxury travel.
And the inaugural edition of the show attracted 50 exhibitors and 150 individual sellers to meet with 150 hosted buyers, including those from countries including South Africa, Thailand, USA, Taiwan, France and Malaysia. In total, 4,700 buyer-seller appointments were conducted during the event.
“BLTM filled a vacuum in the evolution of travel trade shows in India, by introducing a sustainable large-format show focused on business travel and MICE Buyers in a format where fully hosted buyers meet Sellers based on pre-scheduled appointments,” said Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman of Fairfest Media, which organised the event.
Nepal, Taiwan and Korea were the largest international participants, while China, Fiji, Dubai and South Africa all participated as feature countries. Among the Indian states, Bengal Tourism supported BLTM in a big way by hosting the networking lunches and dinners. Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir were the feature states, but sellers from all parts of India were represented.
Hotel chains at BLTM included FRHI, IHG, Hyatt, Taj, Starwood and Banyan Tree. Hyatt also had a corporate pavilion with participation from several properties. Akbar Holidays was the event’s official travel partner and Eco Rent A Car was the transportation partner.
In another first, a ‘MICE Club’ was launched at BLTM, with an objective to facilitate interaction and networking among buyers and sellers from the business travel and MICE segments.
In addition to the show floor, BLTM featured a line-up of panel discussions on subjects including incentive travel, MICE, luxury, weddings and destination promotion through film shoots.
BLTM has already announced new editions for 2017, including a move into new markets such as Mumbai (21-23 February), Hyderabad (14-15 July) and Delhi NCR (26-27 October).
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