Travel Mart to project Kerala as wedding destination

Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) 2014 will be held in Kochi from September 18-20 in, Willingdon Island, announced minister for Tourism AP Anilkumar.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the mart on Sept 17 at Le Meridian Convention Centre, Kochi. Sripat Yasho Naik, Union minister for tourism will be the chief guest and AP Anilkumar will preside over the function.

Kerala will be projected as the 'wedding destination' during the event, said Johny Abraham George, president of KTM 2014. Around 282 international buyers and 938 domestic buyers have already confirmed participation this year.

A special software package will be used for the buyer-seller interaction through which interested parties can fix the convenient date and timing for meeting.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil and Scandinavian nations are the new participating countries this year. Major buyers are from UK, Spain, Germany, France and Russia comprising groups of 25-30 buyers. Strong presence of buyers from South Africa, Netherlands, Malaysia, Middle East, Peru, Chile and Eastern Europe makes the event more attractive, said George.

Various seminars would be held during the event. Union tourism secretary Parvez Dhawan will speak on 'Kerala - the way ahead' and his Kerala counterpart Suman Billa will raise 'responsible tourism - Kerala model'.

Presentations will be made on Muzris tourism by Benny Kuriakose and G Gangadharan on Ayurveda. There will also be a tour to farm tourism projects in seven different locations after KTM.