CM Naveen Patnaik to inaugurate the 2nd edition of Odisha Travel Bazaar

The curtains will go up on the second edition of the Odisha Travel Bazaar, with Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha, inaugurating the three-day event at Mayfair Convention, on October 5, 2018. The three-day mega travel bazaar (October 5-7, 2018) is organized by the Department of Tourism, Government of Odisha and FICCI.

This year’s OTB will witness the participation of 60 FTOs from 23 countries likeAustralia , Austria , Bulgaria , China , Finland , France , Germany , Hungary , Indonesia , Italy , Malaysia , Philippines , Poland , Romania , Russia , Singapore , Spain , Sweden , Thailand , Netherlands , UK, USAand 16 leading DTOs from Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Varanasi and Visakapatnam, will congregate to interact and will engage themselves with 56 Sellers comprising of travel agencies and hoteliers from Odisha to showcase and sell the Odisha travel product internationally and within the country.

The invited Foreign Tour Operators (FTOs) Domestic Tour Operators (DTOs) took pre event Familiarization (FAM) Trips from Oct 2-4, 2018 in different tourist locations of Odisha to experience the richness and vibrancy ofthe state. Three different FAM trips circuits have been identified for this purpose which is (a) Bhubaneswar – Puri – Konark – Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Bhitarkanika; (b) Bhubaneswar – Konark – Puri – Chilika – Gopalpur – Bhubaneswar and (c) Bhubaneswar – Rayagada – Jeypore – Onkadeli – Bhubaneswar.

Apart from the FAM trip and one to one business meetings the FTO‘s & DTO’s will be taken to local site seeing of Bhubaneswar, Heritage walk at old town of Bhubaneswar, Udaygiri & Khandagiri. Also a special light and sound show will be organized at Dhauli for them.

As Compared to last year the number there has been a surge in the number of foreign buyers from 45 last year to 60 participants this year. Similarly domestic tour operators increased from 10 last year to 16 participants this year. There is also an increase in the pre scheduled B2B meetings between Buyers and Sellers which is 1800 this year compared with 1300 B2B meetings held in the first edition of OTB.

The Inaugural ceremony of OTB 2018 will also be attended and addressed by Shri Ashok Chandra Panda, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, Odia Language Literature and Culture, Government of Odisha; Mr. R Balakrishnan, Development Commissioner cum-ACS, Government of Odisha; Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner–cum–Secretary, Tourism Department and Sports & Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha; Mr. J.K. Mohanty, Chairman, Tourism Panel, FICCI Odisha State Council and CMD, Swosti Group and Mr. DilipChenoy, Secretary General, FICCI.