Impressive show at Travel and Tourism Fair

In spite of travel and tourism fairs being held simultaneously in various parts of the country, the Travel and Tourism fair (TTF) at HITEX Exhibition Centre is attracting larger crowds

It is with the one-liner ‘It’s all in it’ that the Telangana Tourism stall beckoned holiday makers while the brother state AP wooed travellers by saying ‘Everything’s Possible’. The stalls adjacent to each-other are the first ones that a visitor is greeted to.

The bandh did not deter the ones who made it to the HITEX Exhibition Centre on Saturday. The footfalls may not be as much when compared to last year, but officials manning the different stalls are happy with the response.

This year there are over 200 stalls from 11 countries and 19 Indian states and Union Territories.

Tourism officials of Telangana stall said that the focus is to promote Jinnaram near Kawal Tiger Sanctuary and the lake of Kadem in Adilabad and Alisagar Lake. Seven new hotels in Laknavaram, Singoor, Shameerpet, Pochampalli, Jinnaram, Kondagattu and Gajwel are being projected to attract tourists apart from the Haritha wayside amenities at Pragnapur, Zaheerabad, Kamareddy and Pembarty.

More Hyderabadis heading to Goa: The number of Hyderabadis travelling to Goa has increased over the years. Bharat V Chodankar, Assistant Mangager, Dabolim airport says, “A lot of Hyderabadis are travelling to Goa and many make enquiries. St Francis Xavier’s exposition would be held this year and the Goa government is expecting 50 lakh people. Hyderabadis favourite stay has been the Miramar residency.” People who make bookings for packages by Goa tourism at the fair get a 10 per cent discount.

There is another place that Hyderabadis swear by is the Koneswaram temple in Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. Sudharma De Silva, CEO, World Travel Centre, Colombo says, “Hyderabadis believe that visiting the temple does a lot of good. Post 2009, tourists from India have increased by 50 per cent and it helps tourism in Sri Lanka.” He adds, “There are lot of similarities between India and Sri Lanka and the bonding is only going to increase in the future, it augurs well for both nations.”

With the ever growing eco-tourism in mind, the Karnataka Tourism department is promoting eco-tourist resorts. The latest addition to the Jungle Lodges and Resorts being run by the Karnataka government are Sloth Bear Resort at Hampi and Blackbuck resort at Bidar. C Aniketh, manager, Sloth Bear Resort says that the resorts are eco-friendly as there is minimum use of plastic and the waste is segregated and disposed. Solar lighting is used and in the future sewage treatment plant and biogas plant would be set up.”

Kerala tourism also has grandiose plans. The government is reviving the old circuit-the spice route. K Bhaskaran, deputy director, Department of Tourism says, “Vasco-da-Gama had visited Kerala and the department is keen on popularising the old tourism circuit. Hotels are being developed on a PPP model.”

Rukmini, a software engineer who visited the fair on Saturday said that the package to Malaysia was good and she would be making her maiden foreign trip.

While travellers got good deals at the fair, many departments struck deals with agents. Sudharma De Silva says, “The first two days have been eventful and got to know many agents. Hope to do good business in the future.”

Apart from the business deals the visitors at the fair were witness to Banjara dance, Dappu Chappudu, Dolu Debba and magic shows by Magic Babu. There was also Dandia performance at the Gujarat tourism stall.