Cover Story

Exhibiting opportunities

The Express Group’s three day mega-exhibition saw three sectors - hospitality, travel and tourism and healthcare - come together under one roof. As companies in each sector showcased their products and services, it was an opportunity for them to directly interact with their clients and do business. Express TravelWorld brings to you a few glimpses of TravelWorld 2010 and HospitalityWorld 2010. By Sayoni Bhaduri

The year 2010 began with promises of growth and opportunity. At The Express Group, the exhibitions-TravelWorld 2010 and HospitalityWorld 2010, HealthcareWorld 2010-shared the same enthusiasm. The expositions were organised this year in the financial capital of the country, Mumbai. Spread over more than 13,000 sq metres, these B2B exhibitions aimed at providing business growth opportunities to companies in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector.

The mega-exposition was inaugurated by Shaina NC, fashion designer and BJP spokesperson for Maharashtra, who was happy to see as many as 250 exhibitors conduct business with visitors. The other prominent personalities who attended the exhibitions were Sameer Bhujbal, Member of Parliament, actor and restaurateur Suniel Shetty, models Rahul Dev and Milind Soman - also partners of Delhi-based Breathe, a fitness centre. Together the exhibitions saw 6,700 registered visitors.

Focused on the MICE segment, TravelWorld 2010 drew participation from 40 exhibitors, including the likes of Thomas Cook, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Egypt Tourism, MakeMyTrip, SOTC, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, amongst others. HospitalityWorld 2010 witnessed strong support from participants like Unilever Foods, Samsung, LG, VingCard Elsafe, IFB, etc. As a part of the exhibition, special mock-up hotel rooms were set up by IDEEN, a design solutions firm. The Spa and Wellness World and BakeryWorld garnered a lot of interest - initiatives which have seen remarkable growth over last couple of editions.

Activities galore

Apart from a milieu for exhibitors and visitors, a number of knowledge-enhancing sessions were organised that were not just intellectually stimulating but also brought to the fore many challenging issues. TravelWorld 2010 organised the Travel Think Tank - a round table tête-à-tête with industry leaders in the MICE segment discussing the 'Future of MICE - Hopes and Hurdles'. The speakers included Navin Rizvi, Rajeev Kohli, Sudhir Patil, Sonu Shah, Carl Vaz and Om Prakash. The brainstorming session not only focused on the need for good infrastructure but also the necessity to define MICE as segment much better. Vaz said, "MICE as a term is quite confusing and has different meaning for different people. I believe it should be replaced by Business Tourism - not only is it well defined but also allows certain amount of accountability for various parties involved."

On the hospitality front, there were a gamut of activities, which included a Hospitality Think Tank where the discussion was on the emerging destinations for hospitality investment, and had panelists like Vithal Kamat, SP Jain, Param Kannampilly, Akshay Kulkarni, Ajit Dharmadhikari, and Umesh Luthria. The discussion saw pertinent points of dealing and working around stringent rules, regulations and the bureaucracy. This apart, there was a special session with hospitality consultants Joseph D'Couto and Pervez Guzder. Spa and Wellness 360° and the Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC) were the other attractions. Conducted with the support of the Western India Culinary Association and World Association of Chefs Society, GICC saw more than 100 chefs from the leading brands in the country test their skills. An brand new initiative HospiTech - a forum for hospitality IT managers, also took off at this exhibition, and hopes to see a brighter future ahead.