Fairfest Media Ltd. organised the OTM 2018 from January 18-20, at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre. Turkey, Greece and Thailand were the three biggest country pavilions, returning to OTM in 2018. The leading tour operator in the country – Cox & Kings signed up with OTM for the next three years, as the Knowledge Partner. Global leader in hotel marketing technology – Google partnered to organise CMO workshops on the sidelines of OTM 2018. The National Tourist Organisations (NTOs) of Palestine, Japan, New Zealand, Maldives, Russia, Tanzania, Bhutan, Korea, Egypt, Bangladesh, Nepal, Zagreb and Croatia exhibited with large country pavilions. Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar and Andhra Pradesh set up large state pavilions. TravHQ partnered with OTM to organise Travel Technology Track, with sessions on innovative travel tech solutions, panel discussions with industry thought-leaders and digital skill development workshops. “We have shared a close bond with OTM Mumbai for a long time now and with this “Travel Technology Track,” we aim to empower the travel industry further. Through this, we have highlighted the future of travel across segments. Innovators and unique travel agencies using the Internet of Things gave short presentations this time. There were captivating panel discussions from hoteliers who are maximising revenue through digital marketing, presentation of case studies and workshops for MICE agents and boutique hoteliers,” stated Daksh Sharma, Managing Partner, TravHQ.
India is ranked among one of the fastest emerging travel destinations in the world as Indians continue to take more than a billion domestic and 20 million international visits annually. Fuelling this growth, Mumbai serves as a gateway city to 60% of India’s outbound market, making it the largest hub of inbound and outbound, business, luxury, and MICE travel in India. This is the main reason behind the emergence of OTM as the largest travel trade show in the region. Annual travel trade shows are an important opportunity for both the travel trade buyer and exhibitor as they can have direct meetings and networking session. Traditionally, visitors at these fairs walk the show and meet the sellers of their interest. The advent of online technologies has enabled the travel sector to further utilise its potentials. Keeping in mind the business prospects, an easy-to-use online meeting diary to fix appointment between buyers and sellers has been scheduled this year. Fairfest Media Limited, established in 1989, was the first mover in India in the space of travel marts. It’s OTM is now Asia Pacific’s leading travel trade show on the basis of countries represented, number of sellers and buyers and gross exhibition area.
