Kerala Travel Mart 2024 opens in Kochi with focus on MICE

India & You

Inaugural function of KTM 2024 which has emerged as a key inbound and domestic tourism show in India

Hectic activities, with thousands of B2B meetings involving over 3,000 participants marked the Day 1 of Kerala Travel Mart, KTM2024, in Kochi on Friday. From organisers and exhibitors to buyers and visitors, all the stakeholders in the show, that is the largest tourism show mounted by a single state in India, expressed their happiness with the way the show proceeded.

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the 12th edition of on Thursday, saying that he intended to make Kerala a hub for wellness tourism. Inaugurating the show that has attracted a record number of buyers, totalling 2,860 including domestic and overseas, as well as 347 exhibitors, Vijayan said that he wanted Kerala to create a care economy to cater to both the young and the aged alike and added that mounting such an economy would also bring in investments for the state.

According to the organisers, the participation at KTM 2024 has broken all previous records

According to, KTM Society, which organises the travel fair, of the 808 foreign buyers from 76 countries attending KTM 2024, 67 are from the UK, 60 from the Gulf and 55 from the US. The number of buyers from Russia stands at 34 and those from the rest of Europe total 245. 

In terms of domestic buyers, Maharashtra tops the list with 578 buyers, followed by Delhi, which has 340 buyers and Gujarat with 263 buyers.

Jose Pradeep, Hari Kumar C, Janeesh J & Abraham George of KTM Society (L-R)

In his address, PA Mohamed Riyas, Minister of Tourism and Public Works of Kerala, said that Kerala Travel Mart had a big role in further boosting the tourism sector in the state in the context of positive signs of quick revival in the post-Covid period.

“Kerala has set a record for the arrival of domestic tourists and Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) will add momentum to this. Kerala Tourism’s recently released campaign video, Ente Keralam Ennum Sundaram, which captures the state’s diversity and scenic beauty, is receiving a great response from travel enthusiasts worldwide and the campaign will attract more tourists in the current season, and the new edition of KTM is an important component of Kerala tourism that will accelerate its growth,” Riyas said.

Hari Kumar C

According to the organisers, KTM Society, the participation at KTM 2024 had broken all previous records for a tourism show promoting a single state. 

“If you look at the 2024 version, we can easily say that this is the best KTM in the history so far because the number of visitors we have is phenomenal. We aleady have over 3500 registrations this year, which is a record. And we have participants from 78 countries around the world and from 25 states across India. Also, we have over 50,000 B2B meetings pre-fixed in the span of three days. And so we are providing a platform for even small tourism businesses in Kerala to connect with buyers from around the globe. This is the best B2B event for any single state not just in India, but across South East Asia,’’ Hari Kumar C, Vice President of KTM Society, tells India & You.

He adds that a successful KTM is a team effort, with the government and the private sector working hand-in-hand and with close coordination. “We have received good support from all potential partners, including the hotels of Kerala as they have provided over 1,000 rooms for the hosted buyers for four nights,’’ Hari adds.

S Swaminathan

S Swaminathan, Secretary of KTM Society, says that while the interest from international buyers remains high as ever, KTM2024 has seen surprisingly good response from different parts of the country. “Well, the most interesting fact is that while we have an equal amount of interest from domestic and overseas buyers, what is very surprising is the way the domestic market has evolved as earlier we used to have most of the response from traditional markets like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, but this year we have seen participation from southern states of India, like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu,’’ Swaminathan tells India & You.

Swaminathan says that as a show KTM has improved over the years since its own organisers are gaining more experience and learning from global trends.

“We have improved the show each time with more experienced people around. Our planning begins almost 18 months before the show and our members keep attending global shows like ITB Berlin and WTM London. So that combination is also taking us forward. We have innovated this year and launched an app for seamless participation by all,’’ he adds.

Adl Karim

Beyond the organisers, the buyers also express their happiness with the show, especially with KTM 2024. Adl Karim, Director of FlyCreative Online, one of the oldest travel companies in India, has been a regular visitor to KTM says he attends the show primarily because of the quality of the show and the participants.

Madhu Gopalan

“KTM is always buzzing about because it has a lot of international buyers and media and I think they come here because of the aggressive promotion by Kerala Tourism at major international travel shows. And the number of buyers keeps on rising, even though Kerala Tourism filters them carefully and is trying to keep non-serious buyers away, but the rush here shows the real demand for Kerala as a tourism destination,’’ Karim tells India & You.

The show is also an ideal opportunity for buyers to connect with companies that provide unique tours in the state. “It is ideal for showcasing Kerala products and we get good quality buyers from different parts of the world. We are here to promote a unique circuit of Kerala performance arts where tourists come with us to visit the villages and homes of these artists and see them perform over there. So, we mount unique shows that promotes Kerala’s culture by featuring its best artists and not only those performing on big stages,” Madhu Gopalan, Founder, Never Before Holidays, a Kerala-based travel company, tells India & You.

Norlander and Hard af Segerstad

Gopalan says that while earlier his clientele was well-distributed between domestic and international. “We used to have 30 pc international and 70 pc domestic. However, since pandemic, the international arrivals have been hit hard and even though they are much better now than in 2021 or 2022, we are still below the 2019 levels. But I think we will not only get to pre-pandemic levels, but go beyond, with almost equal share of domestic and foreign visitors,’’ he adds.

It is not just the domestic tour operators who make it a point never to miss KTM. Some of its buyers have been loyal to the travel show well over a decade. Ganesha Travels is a tour operator based in Sweden and is run by two Swedish sisters, Eva Norlander and Marianne Hard af Segerstad, who have been regular buyers at KTM for the past 16 years. Incidentally, they also run a blog about Kerala in Swedish, which they say, is very popular in the Nordic country.

“We have been attending KTM since 2008 and we like to come here as we specialise in sending tourists to Kerala and even though there is a lot of information available online and through QR codes, but the advantage of attending shows like KTM is that you meet a lot of people here and meeting people is still very important,’’ Norlander and Hard af Segerstad, tell India & You.

KTM has evolved dramatically over the past 25 years

They say they have seen the show evolve dramatically over the past 16 years. “It is bigger, much bigger and very professionally organised. So it is a very good show for us,’’ the Swedish sisters add, in what must be music to KTM Society and Kerala Tourism.