Travel & Tourism Fair (TTF), part of India’s oldest and largest travel show network, has kicked off 2017 with two travel trade shows – TTF Chennai at the Chennai Trade Centre and TTF Bengaluru at the Elaan Convention Centre.
Both events attracted a sizeable audience with Chennai drawing over 120 national and international participants, while Bengaluru attracted over 180 participants.
This year, the show has grown by 25 per cent for Chennai and 30 per cent for Bengaluru over last year, indicating that even post – demonetisation, the travel industry is anticipating growth and positive trends.
Participants from six countries and 20 Indian states and union territories attended TTF Chennai, while TTF Bengaluru played host to participants from five countries and 21 Indian states and UTs, which included state tourism boards, national tourist offices, hoteliers, airlines, tour operators and travel agents, online travel companies, railways, cruises and other travel marketers.
Some of the partner states who participated in these events were Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Similarly, some of the feature states were Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Punjab, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar among others.
SriLankan Airlines was one of the major participators at TTF Chennai as the partner airline. “With the most recent expansion into India, SriLankan Airlines now operates to 11 cities in India with a weekly frequency of 106 flights,” said S P Mohan, manager for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, SriLankan Airlines.
The event also had participation from Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The partner country for TTF Bengaluru was Nepal, while GoAir was the partner airline. Country representations at Bengaluru included operators from Singapore, Thailand and Russia. Other countries represented at Chennai included Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Besides states and countries, other exhibitors participating in the events included India B2B Solutions, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation, Southern Travels, India Tourism Development Corporation, Tamara Coorg, Itzcash, Sunrise Travel Port, Vythiri Resort, Blue Star Air Travel Services and more.
Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman and CEO, Fairfest Media, commented, “TTF Chennai and Bengaluru provides an important opportunity to be present in a hugely strategic market of South India. The trade show, now in its 28th year has resulted in creating a firm and strong network for the travel industry to explore the full potential and opportunities in domestic and outbound travel.”