Archana Sharma – New Delhi
The 22nd edition of SATTE was held from January 29-31, 2015 at Pragati Maidan, Delhi and witnessed participation by over 650 exhibitors from 50 countries. During the inaugural address, Joji George, managing director, UBM India and Michael Duck, executive vice president, UBM Asia emphasised on the importance of India as a major tourist destination as well as an even bigger source market. While talking about the partnership with the ministry of tourism (MoT), Duck also highlighted their plans to make SATTE 2016 an even bigger event.
Speaking about future initiatives, Girish Shankar, additional secretary, MoT stated that they will be adding more countries to the tourist visa on arrival scheme. “With the surge in tourist arrivals observed so far, we are looking at adding more countries to the tourist visa on arrival list by the end of 2015, as tourism is not just good for the GDP of the country but for inclusive growth as well.” he stated. Shankar also informed that MoT is trying to improve connectivity for seamless travel and increase air connectivity by utilisation of unused airports and air strips. Stressing on the security concerns, Shankar also talked about the 24 hour helpline launched recently which is presently available in only two languages but will soon be available in eight more languages. “MoT will also be upgrading the India tourism website in the next six months with a new look, making it more user friendly,” he added. Ashok Chandra Panda, minister for tourism, Odisha, spoke about their strategy to promote Odisha not only in the domestic market but also in the South Asian market with the help of a Look East policy.
The three day event witnessed many companies promoting their products like Abacus and Travelport Galileo, Fore Representations, Holiday Merchants, Influence Technolabs, Internet Moguls, M Globe International, QuadLabs, RezLive, roomsXML, etc. Apart from these, a few international cities also promoted themselves as solo destinations like Moscow. “We are also looking into major investment projects to improve the infrastructure of Moscow city in order to facilitate more tourists visiting us,” informed Nato Chechelashvili, consultant, Committee on Tourism and Hotel Industry, Moscow City Government.