After hiatus of almost two years, India’s travel trade shows get on ground with the OTM that is slated to begin in Mumbai on March 14.

OTM Mumbai is being held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre from March 14-16, 2022. Organised after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the show will witness over 600 exhibitors from more than 20 countries, 29 Indian States and 7 Union Territories. It will be the first international travel trade show since the pandemic.

“Tourism and hospitality businesses form about a 10th of national incomes and workforces globally. It was hugely affected in the last two years, crushing down a huge number of units due to lockdowns and restrictions. The worst seems to be over and we see a good sign of recovery.  We are delighted to host OTM Mumbai, the first international travel trade show post-pandemic,” says Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media, the organiser of OTM.

The 3-day event will bring together all destinations that are open including international tourism boards, national and state tourism boards, hotels & resorts, airlines, Destination Management Companies, MICE, wedding planners and film producers under one roof.

Maldives Tourism is coming back to Mumbai after just a few months, reconfirming their commitment to the Indian market, and will be the Partner Country of the show. Azerbaijan Tourism Board and Nepal Tourism Board too are participating as Partner Countries of OTM 2022. Qatar Tourism, Korea Tourism Organization, Singapore Tourism Board and the Department of Tourism of Philippines are the Feature Countries of the event, bringing together their travel suppliers, airlines and hospitality partners to network with the Indian travel trade.

Visit Brussels, Visit Utah and Seychelles will also be showcased at the event. International DMCs, Hotels, Tour Operators will represent Greece, Dubai, France, Madagascar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, among others.

OTM Forum, a knowledge-sharing platform, will bring together India and Asia’s most influential travel leaders on one stage. Panel discussions, master classes, and workshops are conducted by top-level executives from industry leaders and C-suite executives from over 100 top brands including Amadeus, Booking.com, Paypal, Twitter, Hilton, BCD and many more.

The broad theme of the OTM is ‘Restart, Rebuild and Rejuvenate Travel & Tourism Economy’. There will be panel discussions on interesting topics such as adapting and innovating to meet post-pandemic customer travel preferences; the importance of India-Outbound in post-pandemic market recovery; Post-Covid Luxury: top trends that will define hospitality; The Future of the MICE industry; The rise of women-focused tours: safety, employment and opportunities as well as travel blogging under the new normal.

“With a potential of 29 million outbound trips by 2025, the Indian market is specially lucrative in the post-pandemic phase when many traditional markets like China may still be out of bounds due to restrictions owing to the ‘Zero-Covid’ strategy. With the end of the pandemic already visible in India, there is a significant revival in the domestic market while international travel is likely to rebound in the later part of 2022”, according to the organisers of OTM.

The Indian travel market is at its inflection point and is one of the fastest-growing in the world. By 2025, a report by Expedia expects 13.9 million leisure departures from India, leading to 19.4 million Indian visitor arrivals overseas, with a major contribution from Tier II and Tier III cities. Business travel accounts for 26 pc of the outbound trips, making India one of the largest business travel markets globally. As per reports, the Indian outbound tourism market is estimated to surpass USD 42 billion USD by 2024 and will exceed USD 45 Billion by 2025.