Incredible India's offerings abound
Marts can be the pedestal to push inbound into the country as it helps exhibitors put out the best of offerings on a global platform. TRAVTALK spoke to foreign buyers at the Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart to gauge what's popular from India and what's new and
MPTM offers a good spread of hotels and operators. We were looking to find out what some of the resorts and hotels do for jungle lodges safari and what is available in Khajuraho and Gwalior. It helps us to build a programme because clients coming to India, especially first-timers, may have ideas of what they want but what they want may not be the best. On a second visit, we'd like to give them something different. Not just the Golden Triangle and Rajasthan, but the tribal circuit and festivals so that they can experience the real India.
I am very happy to be here because after two months we'll have direct flights from Baku to Delhi and we hope to send a lot of tourists to India. That's why we should see the region of India. I am very excited to go on a tiger tour because we have nothing like this in our country. We'll be travelling to Agra and Jaipur to see more of India. Goa, Delhi for leisure and Mumbai is very popular for corporates.
MPTM has been eye-opening. My forte has been religious tourism and leisure and I got to know about some heritage and religious sites in MP. First thing that struck me when I landed in Bhopal was the greenery and the beautiful lake. Religious and heritage attractions, especially Buddhist, are immensely popular among Malaysians. Golden Triangle is very popular at the moment. At this mart, I got to know about Sanchi Stupa that I'll market when I go back. I also got to know about opening of the Sikkim area which holds great potential.
It's my first time in India. It's a great experience to discover new companies and contacts to promote India in Ukraine. Thanks to the organisers for putting such a great event together. We mostly sell Goa but we are at MPTM to discover something new since Madhya Pradesh is the centre of the country. Mostly we work with five-star hotels and the VIP segment so we are interested in new five-star hotels and luxury lodges for our clients.
The mart has been good so far but the organisers need to work on better communication. Currently the pilgrimage tours are very popular. Golden Triangle used to be very popular, thanks to the marketing efforts of Incredible India. Kashmir is very popular but tourists are questioning travelling there because of the unrest. I am looking to promote Leh-Ladakh for Singaporeans, it's the next big thing. When one talks about safari, Singaporeans only know African but there are Indian versions also and I got to see so many options that I am going to go back and sell.
I am looking for DMCs at this mart. As Americans we think India is all about the Taj Mahal but it is vast and varied and has a lot of everything. I just came for the first time and did the Golden Triangle, Cochin, Wayanad & Mysore and I was hungry for more. I have already set up a couple of packages to bring in groups to India. I am already asking some of the hoteliers if they'd be interested in other areas to give Fam trips so that I can bring in more agents and then they can promote India.