TBM Staff - Mumbai The 13th edition of ‘The Great Indian Travel Bazaar’ (GITB) concluded in Jaipur, Rajasthan with an ambitious pitch of India as a world’s wedding destination under ‘Wed in India’ initiative.
Along with host state Rajasthan, India’s premier tourism event saw as many as 9 state tourism boards, including Odisha (theme state), Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Punjab attracting around 250 FTOs from 52 countries and 16 international wedding planners enquiring about various wedding destinations and the offerings.
With over 300 booths in the exhibition, a large number of domestic tour operators and 60 wedding planners engaged with their foreign counterparts resulting in over 11,000 B2B meetings, business deals and ‘Coolcation’ – Ministry of Tourism’s fresh initiative striking a chord among both buyers and sellers.
On the final day of the expo with a master class by Chef Ajay Chopra saw a large gathering of both Indian and foreign culinary connoisseurs.
Post the event, FAM tours on 3 tourism routes have been organised for both foreign and domestic tour operators and wedding planners.
India’s premier inbound tourism event was inaugurated by Manisha Saxena, IAS, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Gayatri Rathore, IAS, Principal Secretary, Government of Rajasthan, Dr. Rashmi Sharma, Director, Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, Dipak Deva, Chairperson, FICCI Tourism & Culture Committee & Managing Director, Travel Corporation of India, Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Past President, FICCI & CMD, Lalit Suri Hospitality Group and S.K. Pathak, Secretary General, FICCI.
Other industry representatives present during inaugural of GITB2024 and ‘Wed in India’ were Chetan Vohra, Chair, FICCI Wedding Tourism Taskforce & Managing Director, Wedding Line, Kuldeep Singh Chandela, President, Hotel & Restaurant Association of Rajasthan (HRAR) and Sabbas Joesph, Past President, Event & Entertainment Management Association (EEMA).
GITB 2024 was organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, along with Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). It was supported by Hotel and Restaurant Association of Rajasthan (HRAR), Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA) and Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators (RATO). The focus of this year’s event was to promote India as a wedding destination.
A number of cultural events were organized to showcase India’s deep cultural heritage, including scintillating and spellbound cultural performances by folk artists of Rajasthan who enacted a number of dance acts around wedding theme.
A ‘Wed in India’ film titled ‘Say I do In India’ and an audio-visual presentation titled ‘Romance in Rajasthan’ based on rural Rajasthan’s potential for wedding as well as honeymoon were premiered showcasing India’s enchanting destinations and architectural marvels for weddings which attracted huge applause from the audience.
