Treading the Spice Route

Organised by the Kerala Tourism Mart (KTM) Society and Kerala Tourism department, the 9th Kerala Travel Mart will host a culinary festival with chefs from the Spice Route as a prelude to the event.

After welcoming more than 1000 buyers in the last edition, the 9th Kerala Travel Mart 2016 is set to open its doors from September 28-30 in Kochi. The biennial trade show aims to host 20,000- 30,000 business meetings this year, buoyed by positive responses at the last KTM.

KTM President Abraham George says that they are mainly focusing on increasing tourist footfalls from the new world market. “In the next two years, we hope to substantially grow the number of tourists. We have received a great response from the domestic and international tour operators in yesteryears,” he says. The UK, Germany, France, the US and the Middle East are some of the biggest source markets for KTM, he informs.

SETTING THE THEME

While the ninth edition of KTM will focus on ‘Responsible Tourism’, a set of special festivities themed ‘Muziris and Spice Route’, will be held in line with World Tourism Day on Sept 28. “As part of World Tourism Day celebrations, UNESCO with Kerala Tourism and Union Tourism Ministry has partnered to host an international culinary festival in Kochi, Kerala as a prelude to KTM,” adds George. Gathering in God’s Own Country, selected chefs from the 31 Spice Route countries will compete to discover the famed gastronomic delights of the state.

NEW ELEMENTS AWAIT

KTM 2016 will introduce pre-scheduled appointments for the first time, for domestic and international buyers in an effort to ensure participants fully benefit from the business sessions. “We’re hoping this will help make the sessions more effective to both buyer and seller. We will also be bringing in quality buyers from new countries as well as from conventional markets,” says George. This year, new markets such as Argentina, Brazil and Poland have shown a keen interest in KTM while registrations from the US continue to multiply.

“Visitors of KTM 2016 can also look forward to two series of seminars in six different locations which will be held with the support of well-reputed training masters on different subjects to empower our members,” George concluded.