Published on : Friday, August 19, 2016
The Business and Luxury Travel Mart (BLTM), the first full- fledged travel mart of its kind in India is receiving strong support from a wide variety of trade bodies, which will drive assured visitorship of target audiences and best-in-class knowledge and networking sessions.
Being organised at the Hyatt Regency Gurgaon from October 24-25, 2016, BLTM will feature sellers from global business, MICE and luxury travel suppliers, who will interact with hundreds of qualified hosted buyers from all over India, in addition to thousands of buyers from Delhi National Capital Region, which is arguably the biggest source market in India for these segments. Also, attending will be incentive and meeting travel planners, event management companies, wedding planners, association managers, film line producers etc.
The business travel industry in India is emerging as a specialised market with differentiated needs, in tandem with the global trends. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation report forecasts 10.7% growth in business travel spending in 2016, followed by another 10.2% in 2017 reaching $36.1 billion USD. India remains the 10th largest business travel market in the world, moving up five spots since 2000.
GBTA expects that India will become the 6th largest business travel market in the world by the end of 2019. “We are committed to creating BLTM as India’s premier show focused on Business, MICE and Luxury Travel segments,” remarked Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman of Fairfest Media Ltd. “Hundreds of genuine hosted buyers will be flown in from all parts of India and neighbouring countries. Additionally, the venue Gurgaon NCR will provide a rich hinterland of high-value corporate buyers in thousands, who will be also accorded the same status as hosted buyers,” he added.
The Host State- Haryana Tourism will be supporting and participating in BLTM to promote itself as an emerging MICE destination.
Leading trade bodies like Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) India, Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA), India Association Network (IAN), Indian Golf Travel Association, (IGTA) and Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), have confirmed their support, and will be curating education and networking sessions during the two-day event.
Luxury Travel is also growing rapidly, buoyed by the new phase of conspicuous consumption by the affluent Indian traveller, where the demand is fuelled not only by FITs, but also uniquely Indian markets for weddings and other social occasions.
A clutch of apex organisations from the film industry, including The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd, Motion Picture Association of America- India office, National Film Development Corporation of India will actively participate to highlight the marketing opportunity of promoting destinations for and through film shoots.
To cater to the growing segment of weddings, BLTM has roped in WedWise, India’s first ‘community driven’ wedding start-up with 31,000 active members including the top wedding planners in India.
The support and participation of other travel industry associations like Global Business Travel Industry Association (GBTA), Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), is being finalised. Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) is also keen to come onboard as a key stakeholder for the MICE industry.
‘A’ list of hosted buyers containing 500 top corporate buyers from all over India is being offered fully hosted buyer status. In addition, the sellers also have a quota of nominating buyers.
Hosted Buyers from different companies whose acceptances have been received include Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd; Balmer Lawrie Van Leer Ltd; Prestige Estates Projects Ltd; Lava International Ltd; Football Players Association of India; Football Edge Management Pvt Ltd; Asian Granito India Ltd; Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Tata Motors Ltd; Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Red Bull India; RBS Services India Pvt Ltd; Total Oil India Pvt Ltd; Grant Thornton India LLP; IDFC Bank Ltd; Reliance Infrastructure Ltd; Superior Spirits Pvt Ltd; L&T Infotech Ltd; Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd, Appliance Division; Aegis Ltd; Tata Communications; Clifford Chance LLP (OSC); Godrej Industries Ltd; BCD Meetings & Events; Chep India Pvt Ltd; Fountainhead Entertainment Pvt Ltd; Transasia Bio Medicals Ltd; Mahindra & Mahindra; Ericsson; Tenova India Pvt Ltd; Hewlett Packard; Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd.
Among those who have confirmed their participation as Sellers at the BLTM include Accor Hotels, Chancery Hotel Bangalore, Clarks Group of Hotels/ 1589 Hotels, Club Mahindra, Hotel Fairmont– Jaipur, Lemon Tree Hotels/Redfox Hotel, Ottila, Pride Group of Hotels, Shanti Maurice, The Ambassador Hotel Group, The Lodhi Hotel, The Paul Bangalore/Kumarakom Lake Resort, The Royal Orchid, The Tamara– Coorg, Travel Motivations, Variety Cruises.
International destinations like Korea, Nepal, Malaysia, Zimbabwe etc, are the early birds who have confirmed their intention to participate. Confirmations are awaited from at least 10 more countries.
BLTM will also provide unique opportunities for the Indian states to promote their Business Travel, MICE and Luxury products. Among the ones who have shown keenness to participate in BLTM along with the private sector are Goa, Rajasthan, and of course Host State Haryana, with confirmations also expected shortly from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
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