2nd Day of International Tourism Mart 2019 Focuses on Sustainable Tourism and “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” initiative

The 8th International Tourism Mart (ITM) – 2019 being held at Imphal from 23 – 25 November, 2019 witnessed the participation of 34 foreign delegates from over 19 countries along with 49 domestic delegates representing the travel industry.

The second day of the ITM kicked off with presentations made by all the 8 North East State Tourism Departments i.e., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim who made a presentation to showcase their tourist destinations.

After the presentations a panel discussion was moderated by the Smt. Rupinder Brar, Addl. Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India wherein eminent panelists comprising of Shri Chetan Gupta, Representing Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India, Shri Arjit Purkayastha, a leading Tour Operator of the North East Region and Capt. Swadesh Kumar, President Adventure Tour Operators Association of India deliberated on “Sustainable Tourism as an engine for Economic Growth and Employment”.

An exhibition by the North East State Tourism Departments was also a main attraction of ITM 2019. The exhibition showcased beautiful handicrafts, handlooms and tourism products of Nort East which enthralled both the International as well as the domestic delegates.

The State Government of Madhya Pradesh being the paired State of Manipur  has been invited to participate in the ITM 2019 under the “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” initiative and made a presentation to a group of around 150 local University and College students who got an insight about the tourist attractions, fairs & festivals, handicrafts, culture, historical monuments, cuisine, wildlife, adventure activities etc. of the State of Madhya Pradesh. The students raised various queries regarding Madhya Pradesh during the interactive session after the interesting presentation on Madhya Pradesh which was made by Shri A.K. Rajoria, Director (Investment Promotion) MPSTDC. Additionally, the students as well as the delegates witnessed the traditional Gond paintings by a Gond artist who was specially flown for this purpose from Bhopal.

Another highlight of the day was the Business-to-Business (B2B) session between the International and Domestic Buyers who engaged with sellers from the North Eastern Region.

All the delegates of the ITM 2019 participated in the inaugural function of the Sangai Festival later in the evening at Bhagyachandra Open Air Theatre (BOAT) which was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri N. Biren Singh in the presence of 8 Head of Missions of ASEAN countries. All the invitees witnessed a well choreographed Manipuri cultural programme and the day ended with a dinner hosted by the Government of Manipur