The Union Minister for Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal inaugurated the ‘first ever’ India Tourism Mart (ITM 2018) in the presence of Union Tourism Minister, Shri K J Alphons and the Tourism Minister of Morocco, Mr. Mohamed Sajid, in New Delhi today. The India Tourism Mart is being organized by the Ministry of Tourism from 16th to 18th September 2018, in partnership with the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) and with support of State /UT Governments. The function was held in presence of the Secretary, other senior officials of Tourism Ministry and Chairman/members of FAITH and also delegates from India and across the world.Inaugurating the event, Shri Piyush Goyal wished the best to the Tourism Ministry to reach the ambitious goal of US$100 billion FTA receipts/year within 5 years. The Minister said that unless the infrastructure/fundamentals are set up, India can’t come up as a well sought after destination and he said that the present government has been developing these like ensuring 24 hour power supply, promoting renewable energy forms, and improving connectivity by effectively connecting the remotest destinations. The Minister also added that the most important element that will help promote Tourism in a complete way is the Government’s cleanliness drive, the Swachhta Abhiyan, which will ensure India becoming a preferred destination for all international tourists. Mentioning the income multiplier effect in the Tourism sector, the Minister said that Tourism generates a number of employment opportunities in formal and informal sectors and can change the destiny of the country. The Railway Minister added that the youth of the country can be entrepreneurs, service providers, interpreters etc in the sector and ascertained that India with its varied features has tremendous potential and we just need to leverage from it.Speaking at the event, the Tourism Minister announced that ITM will be an annual event hereafter in line with other International Tourism Marts and it will be held in the month of September. The Minister said that India is so vast that there will be something new for everyone to see and experience in this country with its varied geography, culture, traditions, architectural marvels, religions. Shri Alphons also added that visiting the country has become easier with the new e-visa regime which is now open to 166 countries.India Tourism Mart (ITM) is being held for the first time and the Tourism industry stakeholders are coming together for such a large scale event with Ministry’s support. FAITH is the apex organization of all the important trade and hospitality associations of the country with all the 10 major Tourist organizations like FHRAI, HAI, IATO being involved in this mega event and India Convention Promotion Board (ICPB) is coordinating the whole event. This is a Business to Business Event. The objective of the event is to create an annual Global Tourism Mart for India in line with major international travel marts being held in countries across the world. The Mart provides a platform for all stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industries to interact and transact business opportunities.The ITM 2018 has a participation of around 225 hosted international buyers and Media personnel across the world such as North America, West Europe, East Asia, Latin America, CIS countries etc. The international delegates from overseas markets will interact with Indian seller delegates and the buyers will include current buyers who are already marketing India as a tourist destination as well as potential buyers who are not marketing India as a tourist destination at present but have shown interest in the country. The event also provides an opportunity to the buyers to see the world class tourism facilities available in our country such as Airports, Hotels, Tourist destinations, upcoming facilities, MICE facilities, possibility in the field of adventure tourism and other niche products.Around 225 stalls have been provided to the sellers to enable them to interact with the buyers. These include pavilion for States & Union Territories to showcase their unique tourism destinations and products. The B2B meetings between buyer and seller delegates are being held during these 3 days.The FAITH and State Governments is also offering a pre and post event FAM trips (Familiarization trips) for the buyer delegates from overseas.