Theme: Tourism-Managing the Downturn

President: Vijay Thakur, India Vision Tours and Travels

Convention Chairman: Arun Anand, Midtown Travels Pvt. Ltd.

Co-Chairman: Lally Mathews, Vacation Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd. & Soman S. Pathy, Gujarat Tourism

Chief Guest:  Hans Raj Bhardwaj,, Governor of Karnataka & Dei Prasad Mishra, Tourism Minister of Orissa also attended

A brief detail:

  • Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, inaugurated the Indian Tourism Fair.
  • Hall of Fame award: Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur

Business Sessions:

  • Tourism-Managing the downturn
  • The Karnataka Experience-Tourism Potential and Investment Opportunities
  • Emerging Trends in Tourism-New Dimensions 
  • Explore Madhya Pradesh
  • Future of Tourism
  • How to win a downturn economy
  • Crossfire Railways- Lifeline of Tourism
  • Crossfire Hotels- Backbone of Tourism
  • Synergies Southern Circuits
  • Air India- our National Pride
  • Karnataka’s Wildlife Treasures
  • New Products from destinations
  • Family business – taking on the big Boys & Wining –the Saga Continue-Part-II
  • Vagina Monologue: A show by poor box productions
  • The time around, business sessions tried to offer realistic solutions to the industry to overcome challenges, through product developments, enhanced customer service and better synergies with the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India and State Tourism bodies.
  • A Memorandum of Understanding was signed during the convention between the US based National Tour Association (NTA) and IATO for facilitating tourist traffic the convention between the US and India. Since both IATO and NTA members service inbound and outbound travel, the partnership is expected to be hugely advantageous. Vijay Thakur, President, IATO said that both the sides were looking at mutually beneficial opportunities from this new alliance.
  • The convention also highlighted Karnataka’s progress in the tourism sphere. The state is now working on a hefty 250 crore budget for tourism and there is a three year plan for marketing Karnataka. Over 100 land holdings are now open to investments, keeping in mind that the state is still in need of some 20, 000 additional rooms. Apart from this, 1000 kms of road projects are on the cards, a convention Centre at Devanhally, two monorail projects in Bengaluru, 11 food parks and 12 air strips. In addition, the state is tender documents are currently ready. 23 locations have already been identified to develop helipads and special incentives are to be given to promote Heli Tourism