India to hold its first global tourism mart from Sep 16

India will hold its first-ever global tourism mart modelled on the ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus-Brse Berlin), the world's largest tourism trade fair, the Ministry of Tourism said Friday.

The mart will be held in Delhi from September 16-18, said Secretary, Tourism Ministry Rashmi Verma.

The ten major tourist organisations like FHRAI, HAI, IATO are involved in this mega event, she said.

"The objective of the event is to create an annual global tourism mart for India in line with major international travel marts being held in countries across the world. Many tour operators who can't attend the tourism mart abroad because of the expenses involved, will be able to meet the industry big wigs right here in the country.

"In fact, we are planning this as an annual event and will release a calendar for the next five years,"said Verma.

The mart will see the participation of around 225 international buyers from across the world such as North America, West Europe, East Asia, Latin America and others as well as an equal number of domestic stakeholders, she said.

After the event, the visitors will also be taken on familiarisation tours of tourist sites of their choice sponsored by the respective state governments and ten such itineraries have already been chalked out, the Secretary said.