DRMumbai: With presence in six cities across India in 2017, Global Panorama Showcase (GPS). is set to make waves in the tertiary market. Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD of the firm, talks about the company’s expansion prospects for 2018.
Please share the motivation behind extending the show to two new cities?
The purpose of GPS is to educate and empower the travel agents in the tertiary markets. With our presence in six cities across India in 2017 and an attendance of over 7000 visitors across all the events, we realised that there are still areas which need to be covered to encompass the whole of Indian Tier II and III cities. Hence, we decided to add Lucknow and Hyderabad to our portfolio of events in our sixth edition.
Further, we will be doing the Hyderabad event in association with Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FTAPCCI), which is over a 100-year-old federation. Telangana Tourism Conclave at the Hyderabad Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre from 28 – 30 June will see over 500 registered buyers. With the addition of these new cities, we envisage an increase in our market reach to over 8000 travel agents / travel professionals in 2018 across all the eight cities.
What is the target with the two new cities under GPS this year?
With Lucknow we would be involving the travel trade from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand and expect an attendance of over 500 during the three days of the event.
Further, at Hyderabad we expect the active participation of tourism boards of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (AP), and also plan to showcase the region with the support of the stakeholders. We expect to cover travel professionals from Telangana, AP and Karnataka and register over 500 attendees. Hyderabad will be the first event of this financial year and Nagpur the last (January 2019) as per our new event calendar.
Is GPS going to introduce anything new in 2018? Will it be any different from its last editions?
GST is still a burning issue and the agents in Central India need to be kept abreast of the same, hence, we will be running a session with CA Manish Gadia to answer the queries of our attendees. In addition, the highlight at the 2018 edition will be the launch of a Complete Travel Management Solution for the small and medium travel professionals / agencies.
This will be a unique platform and we foresee this as the future of our travel industry. The two products that the attendees would engage with will be Rainbow CTM and Trip 38. In 2018, we expect to have at least six Educational Destination Workshop International (EDWIN) programmes so the attendees will have an opportunity to earn points and discounts. EDWIN programme held in Bali in March 2018 witnessed close to 200 attendees from across the country.
We launched the GPS 10X membership card and currently have over 300 individual members. In addition we have launched Xclusive Club for all exhibitors participating at a minimum of six cities in FY 2018-19.
Current benefits of 10X are exclusive access to the GPS 10X event app to avail various discounts in EDWIN and GPS programs with savings of upto Rs. 10,000. Members are also eligible to get free access to GPS networking lunches and dinners. The annual membership fee for the discount card is Rs. 3000 + GST and the same is an E-card.
Further we have launched Eco-Connect to support start-ups and small businesses to have a presence at GPS and promote their products. Currently, GPS has a following of over 15,000 travel professionals across India and this would be a good opportunity for hotels, restaurants and FMCG as also any industry which would want to offer discounts to the GPS members.
What are the expectations from all the shows in terms of delegate participation, attendee count, exhibitors etc.?
We have a fixed format and the event runs over a 3-day period with first day set aside exclusively for product presentation and education. We will restrict the number of exhibitors to around 110 at the Nagpur edition and all other cities between 75 to 80. We are looking at an average registration/attendance of over 900 per city.
Please share the proposed sessions to be held at the various shows in 2018?
As mentioned, GST would be the highlight and the second most important session will be on time management, cross selling, up-selling and optimising revenues with the available resources that an agency may have at their disposal.
What will be the marketing and promotional strategy this year to popularise the show?
The exhibitors will be a mix of tourism boards, airlines, DMCs and ancillary services related to the travel trade. The thrust will be on how technology will play an important role in each agency’s day-to-day working. Through various travel media and social media we will be promoting the events. The GPS App has become an essential part of every attendee, be it the exhibitor or the buyer.
Those enrolling for GPS membership will have a full year access to the GPS App at no additional cost. All new tie-ups and offers and benefits would be available to the registered members.
