Tripura to host 7th International Tourism Mart from Nov 22

Tripura will be hosting a 3-day tourism fair from November 22 to promote the tourism industry in the northeastern states of the country, a minister said Sunday.

The 3-day long International Tourism Mart' would begin here from November 22 with an objective to promote tourism in the northeastern states. We are hosting the event with funding from the Ministry of Tourism," state Tourism Minister Pranajit Singha Roy told a press conference here.

The International Tourism Mart is an annual event that is held in the northeastern states. Tripura will be hosting it for the first time this year. The estimated budget of the fair this year is Rs 2.6 crore.

The minister said that at least 60 tour operators from 18 foreign countries including Bangladesh, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Thailand, South Africa and Russia would attend the fair and engage in dialogue with the state tour operators, attend seminars and visit different tourist spots of the state.

"We want to promote tourism and reach out to the international buyers. Presence of the international tour operators would help achieving our objective of promoting tourism," he said.

Singha Roy also added that cultural events would be arranged for foreign tour operators at Neermahal at Melaghar in Sipahijala district, located about 55 km from here.

Neermahal, known as the water palace, was the summer palace of Tripuras last ruler, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur, which was built about 100 years ago. Tripura, a princely state, which joined the Indian territory on October 15, 1949.

"Union Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam would attend the mart with 100 domestic tourist operators from the northeastern states," Singha Roy said.

He also added that handicraft items of the states, tea, pineapple and traditional apparel would be given to the tour operators as gift for promoting tourism.