November 25, 2015 TnH Global 0

ITM acts as window of North-East

The International Travel Mart opened Sikkim to the global world and acts as a facilitator of tourism growth in the North-Eastern region.

The 4th International Travel Mart (ITM) for the North East Region exhibited tourist destinations and products in the North-eastern states along with business-to-business interactions among global delegates and those from across the country. There were global delegates from as many as 27 countries.

Some of the prominent travel trade from Sikkim included Sikkim Association of Adventure Tour Operators (SAATO), Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS) and Indian Himalayan Centre for Adventure and Ecotourism based in Chemchey under the aegis of the department of Tourism and Civil Aviation.

TnH interacted with a host of international buyers and local sellers to find out the kind of impact the global mart will have on the tourism sector of Sikkim as well as North-eastern region of India. According to Stuart Miller, Co-partner, Complete India and North-East India of the United Kingdom, “We intend to know more about North-East India since we are not much aware about the tourism potential of the region. There are different traditions, culture and indigenous tribes in the North-eastern region as compared to the rest of the country. The travel mart encourages travellers to traverse the natural environment, the Himalayas and the countryside of North-East India. There is the famed Brahmaputra cruise in Assam that makes the region a tourist hotspot.”

Miller is quite optimistic about the growth of tourism in the region. He added, “Growth depends upon the tourism potential of the state tourism departments to make the region familiar to travel trade. With ITM, the world gets to know about the Sikkim Himalayas. The ecological aspect of the land deserves mention and needs proper focus to the entire world. Adventure buffs get to know about the wide range of adventure activities on offer like trekking, white water rafting on river Teesta, paragliding and mountain climbing.”

The mart had familiarization tours for both domestic and global delegates. Daniele Bonneton, Director, Aurige of France said, “This is just the beginning of travel trade in North-East. We would be taking up familiarization tour of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Once we get to know the region, tourism will start picking up and global tourists will start arriving.”

The mood is quite upbeat among local travel trade. D N Pradhan, General Secretary, SAATO commented, “We are looking ahead for more tourist arrival in Sikkim from the North-eastern states and global destinations. We receive around 70 per cent travellers from West Bengal and 30 per cent from other parts of India. We expect at least 2 lakh more domestic visitors and 30,000 global tourists will arrive in the coming months. Tourism forms the major source of economy in Sikkim. There are significant pilgrim points for Hindus and Buddhists and adventure tourism forms its USP.”

Sikkim shares boundaries with neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bhutan and China and rests in perfect harmony. Surendra K Pradhan, Founder Member, (TAAS) shared, “ITM provides a sound platform for global buyers since they get to interact directly with local stakeholders and meet the ground reality. They get a taste of local flavours. We need to expedite the quality of road infrastructure in Sikkim for the safety of travellers, locals and country. The road infrastructure needs to be privatized. We have a fair tourist market in West and South India. Our current USP forms Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. The entire North-eastern region along with its natural biodiversity and peace has to be popularized well. The north-eastern states of Nagaland and Mizoram offer out-of-the-world landscape views. We are hoping for about 25 per cent growth on inbound and outbound travel in the region.”