Kerala Travel Mart 2010 ,Bolgatty Palace cochin Kerala

 The 6th edition of Kerala Travel Mart will be held from 23rd to 26th of September 2010 at Bolgatty Palace Cochin. KTM exhibition is held once in 2 years. The last KTM Expo was held in 2008. This is the most notable international B2B tourism fest which Kerala hosts. KTM 2010 will have the presence of more than 1500 bearers from different countries including Germany, Italy, U.S, France etc. KTM 2010 participants include representatives of Travel agencies, Airlines etc.

The sixth edition of the biennial event was inaugurated by Kerala High Court chief justice Jasti Chelameswar at the historic Dutch palace on the Bolgatty Island. Some 2,000 delegates from India and abroad attended the function.The inaugural function will be followed by a grand entertainment programme, on the theme, ‘Athithi Devo Bhav’ which is this year’s theme for the Mart. The objective behind selecting this theme is, that tourism is considered as an eternal rainbow which connects countries, continents, people and above all the ‘athithi and athitheya’ (guest and host). There will also be a cultural programme on the theme on the inaugural day. The script for the same is by K Jayakumar, IAS, Kerala and Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala and the show directed by K C Chandrahasan of Kerala Travels Interserve.

Travel marts should be held every year in different venues of the state, Philip stressed. He suggested that it could be taken to the beach resort of Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram next year and emerging destination Bekal, in the northern Kerala, in another three to four years.

A total of 551 International and 1621 Domestic Buyers have registered for this year's mart. The venue is open only for registered delegates on the first two days, and is open for general visitors on the last day.International buyers from countries like Poland, Mexico, South Africa, Japan, China, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, the U.K., the U.S.A., Germany, France and from countries in South Asia have registered as delegates in the mart. More than thousand buyers from other states of India will also participate in India's most popular travel mart.Supported by the Ministry of Tourism, this year's KTM will be indicative of the State's preparedness to attract tourists from countries just recovering from global recession.

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