Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has accepted an invitation to become an advisor to international travel writers’ group — Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA).

The invitation was made by the group’s Secretary General, Sagur Ahluwalia last Friday, who shared that the Minister’s rich experience will be beneficial to the organization.

In expressing his gratitude, Minister Bartlett said, “It is an honour to have been selected as an advisor to the prestigious PATWA organization. I offer my services to the organization and hope that we are able to share ideas which will have a positive impact on the growth of tourism both regionally and internationally.”

PATWA is a professional organisation of travel writers which was founded in 1998, at the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Its founding philosophy is to support PATA’s primary objectives of being a catalyst for responsibly developing the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.

Minister Bartlett was this year awarded the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s (PATWA) Tourism Minister of the Year for Sustainable Tourism for 2018 in Berlin, Germany
During the awards presentation, Jamaica also received PATWA’s International Travel Award for Destination of the Year.

The awards recognised ¬individuals and organisations that have excelled and/or are involved in the promotion of ¬tourism from different sectors of the travel trade and service ¬providers related directly or indirectly to the industry.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

Travel News | eTurboNews

Pune to Host

‘India International Travel Mart’

India’s Premier Travel and Tourism Exhibition

Date: 30 November -2 December 2018

Venue: Deccan College Grounds, Near Bombay Sappers, Yerwada, Pune

Timing: 1100 hrs – 1900 hrs

See the Country, Travel the World!

Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions is pleased to announce the 111^th edition of its
‘India International Travel Mart’, to be held from 30 November -2 December 2018

at Deccan College Grounds, Near Bombay Sappers, Yerwada, Pune

With this year’s edition of ‘IITM’ Pune, Sphere Travelmedia & Exhibitions completes Nineteen years of providing the travel industry and discerning buyers from the travel-trade and corporate sector an opportunity to do business.

‘India International Travel Mart’ will showcase a variety of destinations from different spheres such as pilgrimages, adventures, culture & heritage, beaches, hills and much more. The event will have over 250 participants from over 8 countries and over 20 Indian states. The participants include Travel Agents & Tour Operators, DMC, Hotels & Resorts, National Tourist Organizations, Cruises, Airlines, Online Travel Portals etc.

The three-day event will showcase glimpses from the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. The time for IITM Pune is perfect for the upcoming winter holiday season in India, and Christmas festival just round-the corner with long weekends as well as round-the-year travel, vacations and business plans.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sanjay Hakhu, Director, Sphere TravelMedia said, “India in spite of the present business environment is fast emerging as one of the most interesting and productive countries for the travel trade industry both for leisure and business travel. A combination of factors is responsible for the growth and demand of travel trends from India. The visitor profile is on a B2B & B2C format like and will have over 15,000 buyers over three days”.

Tourism Studies and Trends indicate that the year 2018 – 19 will see more than 20 million Indian tourists embanking on overseas travel and with the advent of low-cost international airfares and holiday packages that are available on monthly instalments payable over a period of time, International travel is no longer a luxury.

Highlights:

Some of the International participants who are participating this year include participants from Dubai, Nepal, Portugal, Srilanka
Host State is Maharashtra
Partner State is Gujarat
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be the ‘Feature Destinations’ at the event.

Other states being represented include Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala, Goa, Jharkhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh , Punjab, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana , Tripura and West Bengal.

More than 150 hotels and resorts are participating from all over India, making it one of the most diverse ranges of hospitality products in the country on display.
Diverse Tourism segments on display such as Pilgrimage Travel, Adventure, Cultural pursuits, shopping tours, etc.
International Holiday Packages from IRCTC

The ‘India International Travel Mart’ provides an ideal ‘marketing opportunity’ and ‘excellent backdrop’ to enhance the participant’s ‘brand-equity’ in the eyes of the discerning end consumer and the travel-trade.

Boost for Domestic Tourism:

The event showcases travel and hospitality products from every part of the country, making it one of the biggest congregations of travel-trade in the country. The event provides unmatched networking opportunities to interact with Travel-Trade and Corporate Buyers alike.

Mr Rohit Hangal, Director, Sphere Travelmedia added: ‘domestic travel as the backbone’ of India’s tourism portfolio and with an estimated 561 million domestic tourist visits. This segment is probably only second to China in terms of sheer size. With the rapid economic development taking place in the country and availability of greater disposable income combined with affordable holiday packages, tourism in India is increasing steadily and acts as a catalyst for the furthering the economic growth in view of its wide-ranging linkage effects and multiple impacts. The participants from the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and many more destinations will be seen aggressively marketing their products will be there with their travel and tourism stakeholders”.

The exhibition would be open between 11.00 am – 7.00 pm during the three days.