DRNew Delhi: Organised by ABEC Exhibitions and Conferences Pvt. Ltd., IITT 2019 will be held at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) Mumbai from January 10-12, 2019. “IITT 2019 will be bigger and better,” says Mohit Mewani, Exhibition Director. “We will have 20,000 sq. mt. of dedicated space where visitors can expect to meet over 500 exhibitors including from destinations like Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bhutan, Maldives and many more. We are expecting over 30,000 visitors and 500-plus corporate & MICE buyers. We will be hosting 400-plus buyers predominantly from tier 2 and 3 cities.”
Tourism in India accounts for 7.5 per cent GDP and is the third largest foreign exchange earner for the country. The tourism and hospitality industry’s direct contribution to GDP in 2017 was $47 billion. This is projected to grow at an average rate of 7.2 per cent year-on-year and touch $160 billion by 2026.
Started in 2014, India International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (IITT) has grown to become one of the biggest and most reputed travel shows in India. From 100 exhibitors at its maiden edition, IITT 2018 had over 500-plus exhibitors, 400-plus hosted buyers, 50-plus international and national level speakers, 20-plus featured countries and over 28,000 visitors.
IITT is the only exhibition in the country to focus on all aspects of tourism which include travel trade, MICE, corporate travel and wedding planners. As a large exhibition and conference organiser, ABEC has strong relations with over 4000 corporate houses which is leveraged to ensure attendance of 500-plus corporate buyers for driving MICE business at IITT. “We are targeting the MICE segment very strongly in IITT 2019,” confirms Mewani.
The IITT 2019 Conference will be covering various aspects of travel and tourism like outbound tourism, cruise tourism, online vs offline business and importance of technology in the B2B business. “We plan to host six topics with panellists from across the country and abroad who are leaders in their respective businesses. Visitors can expect insightful knowledge sessions at IITT 2019,” adds Mewani.
There will be six sessions per day for showcasing products and services to an audience of 100 professionals at the IITT 2019 Workshop. IITT CONNECT is a new concept in networking never seen before in the travel exhibitions space in India and an integral part of IITT 2019. It is a dedicated area created within the exhibition arena and used for networking between exhibitors, corporates, MICE and wedding planners.
According to Mewani, corporates, MICE and wedding planners are invited as buyers and made to sit at individual tables displaying their respective name tags. Exhibitors can visit the lounge to meet these buyers and have a speed networking session of 10 minutes with each of them. It is a pure business networking lounge where exhibitors get to meet over 400-plus corporates and 150-plus MICE and wedding planners over three days to close businesses worth over Rs. 500 crore.
IITT 2019 Training Academy is a zone for conducting product training and certification programmes aimed at frontline sales staff of travel companies.
Training slots of 120 minutes have been scheduled followed by a 30 minute test to qualify for the certificate. This is an excellent opportunity for travel professionals to gain product knowledge and get certified too. IITT 2019 Walk The Talk with your Mentor is an open forum where travel and tourism students can interact with travel industry stalwarts.
With such fresh and innovative features, IITT 2019 is certain to break its own record in terms of exhibitors, visitors and business outcomes.
