With the successful conclusion of the first travel trade show in India since the Covid-19 outbreak over two years ago, mood in the travel industry, domestic as well as international, is upbeat and optimistic about a rapid return to normalcy.

As curtains came down on OTM Mumbai after three hectic days of meetings between 600 exhibitors and thousands of travel trade visitors from across the world, the organisers say the show displayed clearly that India was emerging from the long shadows of Covid-19 pandemic and that the country was going back on track to delivering 29 million outbound trips by the year 2025.

“The beginning of the end of the pandemic seems to be already visible, and international travel is likely to rebound in the latter part of 2022, if not before,” says Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman & CEO of Fairfest Media, the organiser of the show. He also emphasised India’s achievement in overcoming the pandemic and providing a unique opportunity to restore travelling freedom from all sides of the country.

With over 600 exhibitors from about 20 countries as well as from all over India, OTM Mumbai that began on March 14 was the first major international travel trade show to promote post-pandemic tourism.

The inauguration was attended by Abdulla Mausoom, Tourism Minister, Maldives, M Mathiventhan, Minister for Tourism, Tamil Nadu, and Thoyyib Mohamed, Managing Director, MMPRC, along with a host of senior-most tourism officials from India and abroad, as well as leaders from the travel and tourism industry. Maldives Tourism was also the Partner Country of the show.

On the sidelines of the exhibition hall, networking and sales pitches tourism leaders, including India’s tourism minister, addressed conference sessions under the theme, ‘Reconnect, Revive and Rejuvenate the Global Travel & Tourism Economy’.

Several destinations like Thailand as well as Jammu & Kashmir used the platform to reach out to the media about the latest developments vis a vis travellers and the innovations and novelties that the destinations have prepared for tourists. A lot of interest amongst travel trade visitors was evident not just in domestic best-sellers like J&K or Kerala but also in various international destinations like Qatar, Turkey and Sri Lanka.

OTM Forum, a knowledge-sharing platform, was live-streamed for guests to attend from India and abroad and Asia’s most influential travel leaders on one stage. A series of panel discussions, master classes, and workshops were also conducted by top-level executives from industry leaders and C-suite executives from over 100 top brands.

The next edition of OTM, a biannual forum, is scheduled to be held from September 14-16, 2022 in Mumbai.