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The fourth edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), the biggest travel mart in India was inaugurated by the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court, Justice Jasti Chelameswar on September 23 at Bolgatty Island, Kochi. Inaugurating the mart, the Chief Justice said that tourism is a matter of pursuit of happiness. India's tourism potential is immense but it is not being sufficiently leveraged and there is need to improve the infrastructure to promote tourism. The Chief Justice wished that tourism should reach greater heights through the efforts of Kerala Travel Mart.
Presiding over the function KTDC Chairman, Mr. Cherian Philip said that the annual turnover of tourism is now around Rs.130,000 Million and tourism has become an important segment of Kerala economy. KTM had moved into the picturesque Bolgatty premises this time and Mr. Cherian Philip pointed out that with this, Kerala can now boast of a new convention venue as well.
During the inaugural session, Dr. Venu V., Secretary, Kerala Tourism made a presentation on Kerala Tourism. The promotional film on Kerala Tourism Your Moment Is Waiting was screened during the occasion.
The inaugural function was also addressed by KTM President, Mr. Riaz Ahmed, Mr. Sanjay Sreenivas, Regional Director, India Tourism, Mr. M. Sivasankar, Director, Kerala Tourism, and Mr. K.G. Mohanlal, I.F.S, Managing Director, KTDC.
The inaugural function was followed by a grand entertainment programme based on the theme -Athithi Devo Bhava, which is this year's theme for the travel mart. The objective behind the selection of this theme is that tourism is considered as an eternal rainbow, which connects countries, continents, people and above all the athithi (guest) and aathitheya (host).
There was also a cultural programme on the theme on the inaugural day, scripted by Mr. K. Jayakumar I.A.S., which was directed by Mr. K.C. Chandrahasan of Kerala Travels Interserve.
The business sessions of the travel mart were on September 24 with Speed Networking. This was a structured networking opportunity to bring maximum number of introductions for both buyers and sellers. Participants in Speed Networking forum were able to meet more people, make more contacts and generate more business ideas in one short session.
There were three seminar sessions as part of KTM 2010. Two seminars were held on September 25th. These were on 'Buyers perspective of Kerala' and on 'Sustainable Tourism'. The other one was on 'Muziris Heritage', held on September 26.
