The sprawling 1666-acre Ramoji Film City, which has been certified by the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest film studio complex, was the Hospitality Partner of TTF Hyderabad. On Saturday night, Ramoji Film City hosted a gala networking dinner for all TTF delegates with much fanfare. Delegates were given a guided tour of the entire place that ended with a colorful cultural performance followed by dinner.
“I am so glad that all the delegates of TTF Hyderabad could come to Ramoji Film City. Besides film productions, we are venturing into becoming one of the 'must visit destinations of Asia'. I am really very happy that such good B2B colleagues have come, if we could do some work together, it will be the pleasure of Ramoji Film City. We established good contacts; we are talking with some airlines, met Malaysian agents who showed interest in cooperation. MICE business is very good for us, and TTF is the ideal platform to project Ramoji Film City to a greater target audience. We wish to participate in all TTFs", said Rajeev Jalnapurkar, Vice President, Ramoji Film City.
Sunday afternoon, a special awards ceremony honoured the exhibitors across several categories. The ‘Group Participation Award’ went to Himachal Pradesh Tourism, while ‘The Most Promising New Destination Award’ went to the Oman Tourist Office, India and the Egyptian Tourism Office, which was promoting major MICE, leisure and corporate travel destinations like Sharm el Sheikh, Alexandria, Cairo and Aswan.
The ‘Best Value Leisure Product Award’ went to Tourism Malaysia for their Malaysia Mega Sale package, 4 nights / 5 days stay in Malaysia with 2 nights in Kuala Lumpur and 2 nights either in Langkawi, Penang or Johor Bahru at Rs 31,999; and to the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) for various rail tour packages from Hyderabad.
Concept Hospitality Pvt Ltd, for their hospitality with responsibility; and Punnamada Resorts, for Monsoon Package, were the joint winners of the ‘Most Exclusive Leisure Product Award’. Meanwhile, the ‘Most Innovative Product Award’ went to Kerala State Tourism Federation Ltd.
G Muralidhar of makemykerala.com said, "We received good number of inquiries, specially from Maharashtra pavilion. It is not only business but also, visibility and promotion for which we came to participate in TTF."
Ravi Varma, Sales Manager, Vythiri Village in Kerala said, "Kerala is known for Ayurveda Tourism. We are promoting Ayurveda treatment packages in our exotic resort and we have established some real good contacts during B2B hours. General people are also coming in numbers and asking for information on packages. We hope we will get good bookings in future."
Four exhibitors picked up the ‘Best Print Promotional Material Award’: India Tourism, Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation Limited, Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board and, Ramoji Film City.
In an overall summary of the event, participant, visitor and exhibitor feedback shows at this time that TTF Hyderabad 2013 achieved a successful mix of B2B and B2C participants and it also saw a 15% increase in footfall.
After giving away the awards, chief guest Shoeb Samad, Regional Director (South), India Tourism told Travel News Digest, “My colleagues in the India Tourism pavilion said, it was a wonderful experience. Every year we have been participating in TTF, it is becoming more interesting. With more number of participants, domestic as well as international, footfalls are increasing too. Shifting focus from B2C to B2B is good, because Hyderabad so far has not been tourism oriented destination, but with trade fairs like this and with more participation, level of interest among the public is growing day by day. Foreign tourist arrivals have increased compared to other places due to better facilities, better locations and modern amenities. Though Kerala is most favoured destination in South India, but Hyderabad is becoming popular very fast due to its good infrastructure. Also Hyderabad is able to cater to every kind of tourist who comes to India. Success of TTF in Hyderabad proves that.”
On the side-lines of TTF Hyderabad, Gujarat Tourism conducted a road show in one of the city’s five star hotels where Kamlesh Bhai Patel, Chairman, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat, and Vipul Mittra, IAS, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Government of Gujarat gave an overview of Gujarat Tourism’s recent success with Khushboo Gujarat Ki campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan. Tour operators, travel agents and hoteliers were present in numbers at the meet to witness Gujarat Tourism showcasing its forthcoming leading festivals like Monsoon Festival at Saputara, Tarnetar Fair, Navratri Festival, the Rann Utsav and the International Kite Festival.
After the road show, while visiting TTF, Kamlesh Bhai Patel, told Travel News Digest, "TTF is doing very well in all parts of the country. Here in Hyderabad also, I am very pleased to see the quality of participants. TTF keeps its unique image in the tourism sector, and we value it a lot. Like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, we want more tourists from Andhra Pradesh. Today’s travel trade & media meet was very good with lots of interactions. If Andhra Pradesh has Tirupati, Gujarat has Dwarka, so we must do something to boost regional as well as religious tourism. Gujaratis visit Andhra Pradesh in huge numbers. We are in contact with Andhra Pradesh government for a MoU for tourism related cooperation and development.”
Most of the booths were filled with queries all day. Buoyed by the response from the travel trade and the general visitors, SanJeet, India Representative, Macao Government Tourist Office said, “We are delighted to be here for the first time and we will exploit this opportunity and network with our travel friends in the industry in the city. We recognise Hyderabad as a market with a huge number of potential visitors to Macau and we will work closely along with our trade partners and rev up our marketing promotional activities to tap Hyderabad tourist market.”
Sri Lanka joined TTF Hyderabad as a Partner Country with a huge pavilion displaying the ‘Get Sri Lankaned’ campaign. Ten private operators from Sri Lanka came all the way from Colombo, to promote themselves. During the peak hours of the fair, a tour operator from Sri Lanka in the pavilion, Prabath Fernando, Manager – Sales & Marketing, Sunway Holidays said, “Enquiries are coming in for B2B as well as B2C requirements. Many people are asking for Hindu temple packages and the Ramayana sites other than popular sites like Colombo and Kandy. We are also promoting gaming resorts in Sri Lanka which will attract many Indians in the near future. People are taking lot of interest to know that a destination so close can give them the ultimate gaming experience. Things will be even better if flight connectivity improves.”
With an aim to welcome eight lakh Indian tourists in 2014 with promotions focused on adventure tourism, beach activities and island tourism, Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines announced the launch of Malaysia Mega Sale at TTF Hyderabad valid for bookings via selected agents and travel by 30th October. The Amazing Thailand Grand Sale, from June 15 to August 15, is also currently under way in the country, offering discounts of up to 80% at stores and leisure outlets across the country. This, as well as new regional packages were promoted at TTF Hyderabad.
Karl Boga, Marketing Manager, Oman Tourism said, “Overall response is quite good. Lot of travel agents and tour operators are coming to our booth and asking for more information on our destinations. Muscat is the main city where Indians go for work, as well as travel, but we want to promote other leisure destinations which are very appropriate for Indian families.”
This time in Hyderabad the U.S. Consulate officers gave an informative presentation to an enthusiastic audience on the tourist visa procedures. Sage Moon and Courtney Kline, Consular Officers from the Consulate General of the United States, Hyderabad gave presentations and answered many queries from the audience. Sathya Prabha from the U.S. Commercial Service, Hyderabad was also present in the booth to attend visitors and their questions.
Private tour operators were also happy with the response they got at Hyderabad chapter of TTF this year.
Shaikh Altaf, Manager - Sales & Marketing, Desert Vacations exclusively promoting Dubai was overwhelmed with joy.He said, “TTF Hyderabad was excellent. Our B2B meetings were very good, there were many travel agents who promised we will have bulk bookings. Dubai is a very hot destination and people now want to visit Dubai as a tourism place other than its unique shopping experience. We are giving a one-stop solutions which is getting very good response. For Indian tourists we are promoting Diwali Dhamaka Dubai Package" and have both B2B and B2C packages on offer."
Sourav Sadhukhan of Rose Valley Hotels said," We are promoting our new properties. Here in Hyderabad, we have received maximum enquiries on our new property at Port Blair. Due to Hyderabad's easy connectivity with Andaman via Vaizag, people are taking more interest in that hotel. At the same time, we participate in most of the TTfs now, this is the best best place to reunite with colleagues in the industry."
Nitin Lall of Mountain Trails, another regular exhibitor at TTFs was very proud to announce, "Very few people promote Ladakh, and we do give a very different travelling experience for varied kinds of tourists. For those who love adventure, those who want to do high quality photography, we have the tailor-made solutions for all. Our business interactions were very good and we are very hopeful about getting the response as well"
Vineet from Yorker Travel / Big Tree expressed his joy, "I am confident to close today 2/3 group departures from Hyderabad. we promote high quality cruise vacations to many destinations to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaasia and many South East Asian destinations. There were inquiries whole day, we are now looking forward to TTF Ahmedabad for Gujarati tourists who love to travel and do not compromise quality for cost."
