'Travel Bazaar in Jaipur put Rajasthan on global tourism map'

The 10th edition of The Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) concluded here on Tuesday, during the course of which almost 11,000 meetings were held over two day between buyers and sellers, officials said.

State Additional Chief Secretary (Tourism) Subodh Agarwal said that GITB -- inaugurated on Sunday evening by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje -- had received a very positive response this year as well.

"Such events on the global scale help bring Rajasthan on the world tourism map. The pre-structured meetings were customised to meet individual needs of respective buyers. The show saw a large number of first-timers who benefitted from various business interactions under one roof," an official release said.

Talking of digitised tourism marketing campaign, Agarwal said that Rajasthan had fully transformed its marketing strategy with an aggressive campaign and incorporated new elements like award-winning logo, vibrant website, exquisite presence across all social media handles.

FICCI's Consultant-Tourism Rahul Chakravarty said that 280 foreign buyers from 55 countries held intensive one-on-one meetings with 270 Indian sellers over two days.

In all, 10,936 pre-scheduled B2B meetings were held. Also, nine participating States and Rajasthan displayed their tourism prowess through interactions as well as promotional literature and visual films.

The GITB was organised by the Rajasthan Tourism Department, Ministry of Tourism, and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and supported Hotel and Restaurant Association of Rajasthan, Indian Heritage Hotels Association and Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators.

--IANS

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