International Tourism Mart, Tawang 2013 18th – 20th October 2013

BACKGROUNDER

The International Tourism Mart 2013 is being organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with the North Eastern States and West Bengal, in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh from the 18th to 20th October 2013.

The North East Region of India comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim and the state of West Bengal are endowed with diverse tourist attractions and products. The varied topography of the region, its flora and fauna, the ethnic communities with their rich heritage of ancient traditions and lifestyles, festivals, arts and crafts, make it a holiday destination waiting to be explored.

This is the second International Tourism Mart to be organised in the North Eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets. It will bring together the tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from the eight North Eastern States of India and West Bengal. The event has been planned and scheduled to facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, Government agencies and others.

International buyers and media delegates from countries around the world and from different regions of the country will be participating in the Mart and will engage in business-to-business meetings with sellers from the North East Region and West Bengal. This will enable tourism product suppliers to reach out to international and domestic buyers and promote tourism in the region.

Delegates from 27 countries have been invited to participate in the Mart. These include Tour Operators and Media Representatives from the ASEAN countries, Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, U.K. and USA.

Besides the foreign delegates, domestic buyers from other parts of the country and sellers from the North Eastern States and West Bengal will be participating in the Mart. Representatives of State Tourism Departments of these States will also be present to showcase their tourism destinations and to interact with the delegates. In addition to the business meetings, the three day event will include presentations, cultural evenings, sightseeing visits to local attractions in and around Tawang and press meetings with the media.

Post-Mart familiarisation tours to the states in the region have been arranged by the State Governments for the overseas delegates from the 21st to 27th October 2013 to create awareness about the rich and varied tourism products of the region.

A special website of the event has been created with information about the event which can be accessed from the URL itmnortheastindia.in

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