Goa tourism gears up to host Goa International Travel Mart

Some industry stakeholders want Goa tourism to perform better in its latest effort but their concern is that it should not be a repeat of GITM 2011 which was a total fiasco

Travel News
Travel News

Goa tourism is gearing up to host the three day B2B event — 3rd edition of Goa international travel mart (GITM) 2014 which starts on April 2, to bring together travel companies, hoteliers, state tourism boards and other leisure enterprises under one roof to showcase the tourism investment potential in the state, but some industry stakeholders are apprehensive about its success.

Some industry stakeholders want Goa tourism to perform better in its latest effort but their concern is that it should not be a repeat of GITM 2011 which was a total fiasco as per a TOI report.

Savio Messias, vice-president of the tour and travel association of Goa (TTAG), said planning for such events has to be done well in advance so that the whole programme is ready and made available on the website for buyers to see and facilitate their travel plan. "Programmes or schedules of international trade fairs is normally drawn a year before," he pointed out.

A tour operator wishing anonymity said GITM 2011 was a total failure because it was a hotchpotch job. He said in other states, such events are executed through a tourism board which consists of tour operators, professionals and other stake holders of the industry, while role of the government is limited to financing the event. Goa government is yet to constitute a tourism board though announcement was made two years ago.

Despite doubts raised by some tour operators, Goa tourism department this time, is better prepared to host the 3rd edition of the GITM, said a senior officer of the tourism department. "Planning for GITM 2014 was started six months back," he said, indicating that they have learnt from their past mistakes.

This event would be a success, he said as they have confirmation from 100 hosted international buyers from 28 countries and 140 confirmed hosted national buyers.

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