Dr. (Mrs.) J. Geeta Reddy, Hon'ble Minister for Tourism & Sugar, Major Industries, Commerce and Export Promotion, Government of Andhra Pradesh Inaugurated the 3rd TTF, Hyderabad at Sri Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium

Hyderabad, 9 September 2005

The Travel & Tourism Fair, TTF, India's biggest travel mart was back in Hyderabad. The three-day travel mart was inaugurated by Dr. (Mrs.) J. Geeta Reddy, Hon'ble Minister for Tourism & Sugar, Major Industries, Commerce and Export Promotion, Government of Andhra Pradesh at 11 a.m. at the Sri Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy (Yousufguda) Indoor Stadium.

The third in the city, and the 44th in the series, TTF Hyderabad had over 100 participants from all over India, including official participation from 16 states, making it the biggest-ever travel and tourism event in the state. 

The international flavour was provided by Sri Lanka, and Switzerland, as well as representation from Egypt.

The Host state was Andhra Pradesh Tourism, which has been participating in a big way in all TTFs as a part of its aggressive marketing strategy to attract domestic tourists. 

As the Host state, TTF provided a platform to Andhra Pradesh Tourism to motivate its citizens to see their own state, to create awareness of its plans and programmes, to highlight the importance which the government attaches to tourism as an economic activity with multiplier effect, to interact with travel industry delegates from across the country, and to leverage media attention for achieving the above.

Third consecutive year of hosting it in the city has put Hyderabad firmly on the annual calendar of international travel shows. 

Apart from marketing the various destinations to the prospective tourists in the city, TTF provides a very vital forum for the travel trade here to interact with their counterparts from all over India and some from abroad. 

Uttaranchal and Rajasthan were the Partner States at TTF Hyderabad, as a part of which they are bringing with them private sector operators from their states to interact with tourists and travel trade in the region. They would also be organizing exclusive Roadshows in the city for the media and travel trade.

The other state tourism participants included Chattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 

With the Indian skies opening up, and air-travel becoming much more affordable, airlines are now in a position to become prime-movers in tourist traffic, both domestic and international. This was reflected in TTF Hyderabad, where Air India and Air Deccan participated as the Official Carriers.

Besides state tourism departments, participants at the fair included hotels, resorts, destinations, travel agents, tour operators, airlines, travel publications, etc. Visitors could check out the best deals in travel, accommodation and tour packages, and book on-the-spot. To the travel trade the Fair provided a platform to interact, get updates, provide feedback, and do business with travel and tourism suppliers from all over the country, and even from abroad. A visitor could book accommodation, transport and package tours to various tourist destinations for their next holiday. 

Supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, TTF Hyderabad was a part of a countrywide network of travel marts being organized in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. 

Started in 1989, TTF network now has 700 exhibitors from 32 countries and 36 Indian states, and combined visitorship of over 110,000 general visitors, and 5,000 trade visitors.

TTF Hyderabad followed close on the heels of the just-concluded TTF Calcutta, which had 200 participants and over 30,000 visitors.

TTF is organized in six Indian cities every year. The next in the TTF 2004-2005 series is Bangalore and Chennai, back-to-back in January next year, followed by Mumbai and New Delhi in February.