A three-day Holiday Expo-2017, which concluded here on Sunday drew a good number of prospective tourists.
The prospective travellers were seen making enquiries at the stalls put by the State Tourism Boards, Destination Management Companies (DMC s), hotel chains and others.
The State Tourism Boards of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra , Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Gujarat and West Bengal put up their stalls. The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) put up a stall with the sole objective of promoting the island as a tourist destination.
A couple of local men wanted information about hotel bookings in Mauritius but a representative of MTPA told them that bookings could be done only through travel operators or through MTPA websites.
“We got the maximum inquiries regarding the tour packages available to Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In the domestic sector, the maximum enquiries were for the package tours to Kerala, Shimla, Manali and Kashmir,” said Ramesh D, MD of DOT Holidays, Vizag.
The setting up of a good number of resorts between Puri and Konark and availability of flexible tour packages AP Tourism is facing stiff competition is drawing more tourists to Odisha. These tourists, who were earlier visiting beaches of Vizag and the valleys and waterfalls at Araku are having second thoughts due to lack of accommodation and amenities at tourists places in Vizag,” said another tour operator.
“Araku, Anantagiri, Tyda and Rushikonda APTDC resorts, which were going full during Oct, Nov and Dec till last year, are seeing a drop in tourists. During the present season, one can get accommodation even during weekends. Apart from lack of accommodation at places like Lammasingi and inadequate facilities at Araku, no new attractions have come up during the last few years unlike in Odisha, where water sports were being developed in a big way,” says Murali of Travel IQ. “On the positive side, Vizag is drawing tourists from Hyderabad, coming on short trips to Araku and Lammasingi,” he says.
“The expo provides a platform to tourists to interact with representatives of State Tourism Boards apart from tour operators and know about the packages on offer. We organise the expo after Deepavali and this is our 11th annual expo in Vizag. We are planning to add Raipur and Lucknow to the list of cities, where we hold exhibitions. Our next expo will be in Coimbatore from Jan 26 to 28, 2018,” Dilip Biswas, Director of Holiday Expo said.
