Karnataka Tourism Forum (KTF), the not-for-profit organisation that organises B2B roadshows across India to promote the state and encourage domestic tourism, today organised it’s first event of the year in Mumbai. The Forum will soon be moving on to Delhi where they hope to tap a few inbound tour operators as well to attract international footfall to the destination. Speaking with T3 on the sidelines of the event, CB Ramkumar, President, KTF revealed that the Forum conducts about four roadshows a year, with 40 sellers participating at each event.
“We visited three sectors in Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Surat and Baroda), Pune and Chennai in 2012-13, and have Mumbai and Delhi on the cards so far this year. We always try and follow up our roadshows with FAMs, and will organise one soon for the Mumbai agents. We are starting with the strong source markets this year such as the metros, and will move on to other tier II and III cities as well,” he stated.
Speaking about the Mumbai event, he commented that the Forum has added a new segment called Experiential Karnataka, which highlights the experiences unique to Karnataka such as homestays and city walks. Poornima Dasharathi, Unhurried, a company that specialises in experiential and thematic tours, stated that the demand to know more about the history and culture of a destination is increasing, leading to more demand for city walks in Bengaluru, thematic city tours and out of city tours. The domestic and NRI markets are the strongest for such tours, while international demand is also on the rise for city tours.
Speaking about KTF’s plans for the year, Ramkumar added that the forum is planning an awards ceremony to felicitate trade partners. “Furthermore, we are planning a Karnataka International Travel Expo (KITE) at a later stage, which will feature B2B fixed appointments,” Ramkumar said.
KTF is a private organisation run by volunteers who are passionate about Karnataka as a tourist destination. The body works closely with Karnataka Tourism Board and the Ministry as consultants for tourism policies and so on. The Karnataka Tourism Board partly funds these roadshows. The Mumbai roadshow witnessed the participation of tour operators, hotels, resorts and spas from across the state.