First Experiential Tourism conclave in city from July 27
The first Experiential Tourism (ETTM) conclave will be held in Hyderabad from July 27-30. The Conclave will be organised under the aegis of the Government of Telangana and Telangana Tourism. The Tourism Committee of FTCCI is collaborating with iCONEX, a new Delhi-based international conferences and exhibitions organiser.
Vijay Mohan Raj, Advisor of the Tourism Committee said, “The Mercer’s Quality of Living (city ranking) for 2023 puts Hyderabad at a ranking of 153 among global cities”. The ETM Conclave promotes the city and tourism potential of the Telangana state. 975 mn tourists travelled across the globe from Jan to Sept 2020. Tourism industry globally contributes 7.7 trillion US dollar to the GDP. Tourism is the largest industry world over. Tourism needs Industry status, he said. We need to work together to ensure that it gets its due recognition by the government. Tourism in India contributed before the covid 3% to the GDP. But it fell to 0.6% during the covid. Now the industry has fully recovered.
Rakhi Kankaria, Chairperson of FTCCI Tourism Committee said it will be an annual calendar of events. She highlighted various activities including Atithi Devo Bhava Campaign, branding auto and cab drivers as brand ambassadors of the city to attract tourists taken up by the Tourism Committee in the past. The auto and cab drivers will also be taught English (a working knowledge of the subject) to deal with their customers/ tourists.
We will be releasing an audio book towards the same, she shared. ETM Conclave will be an annual affair here after she declared. “Travel industry is all about Experience, hence the theme, Experiential Tourism MICE Conclave. The event brings together all the 40 verticles of the Tourism under one roof,” she added
Abhimanyu Singh the Director of iCONEX said “Hyderabad needs to compete with globally the best cities like New York and other. ETM helps to position the city among the best in the world.”
Various Industries representatives such as HRATS-Hotel and Restaurant Association Telangana; SKAL, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), TAFI-The Travel Agents Federation of India, TOAT—Tour Operator Association of Telangana, TTAT—Tours and Travel Agents Association of Telangana spoke briefly about their respective organisations and their activities.
