The Travel & Tourism Fair (TTF) season has kicked off in Hyderabad, India, as the tourism industry is upbeat aft er the new thrust to the sector by the government.

The three-day show will run till July 26 at Hyderabad’s Hitex Exhibition Centre.

Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman and chief executive officer, Fairfest Media, organiser of TTF, said: “Keeping with the positive sentiments in the tourism industry, both the shows are expected to grow by over 20 per cent, compared to last year.”

The firm organises TTF branded shows every year in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Pune, Goa and Guwahati (July-November) followed by Chennai, Bengaluru and New Delhi (January-February), in addition to the grand finale OTM Mumbai in February.

TTF Hyderabad 2015 is taking place at a strategic time when the newly born Telangana state has just completed its one year.

Last year, immediately after the formation, for the first time Telangana Tourism participated in TTF, first time also in any trade show.

A pavilion with Telangana's maiden campaign ‘It’s all in it’ was set up which attracted a lot of attention from the travel trade as well as media.  This year Telangana Tourism, the host state of TTF Hyderabad will showcase its top destinations and further developed tourism products in a bigger way.

With over 150 stalls from eight countries and 18 Indian states and union territories, the travel trade show has brought together state tourism boards, national tourist offices, hoteliers, airlines, tour operators and travel agents, online travel companies, railways and cruise lines under one roof.

It features colourful displays of various places one can visit, with a hint of their various attractions.

The pavilions have been put up by Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Telangana to cater to the local tourists.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Tourism is participating in a big way as the partner country, while Thailand and Jordan are present as feature countries. The show TTF Hyderabad also has participation from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Among other countries UAE, Maldives, Germany and Malaysia are also represented.

Top exhibitors include MakeMytrip, Adlabs Imagica, Air Arabia, OYO Rooms, IRCTC, MakePlan and Lorient Travel.

To enhance and showcase their respective offerings, aside from attractive and elegant stalls, participating states and countries at TTF Hyderabad are presenting daily cultural events and marketing presentations to trade visitors and the media.

After Hyderabad, TTF will travel to Kolkata next weekend from July 31 to August 2 and then to West India starting from Ahmedabad in September.

Taking further the objective of developing and growing new markets, TTF Goa has been launched in October, with strong support from the host state, Goa. The venue will be the plush Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium inside the campus of Goa University, Talegaon. - TradeArabia News Service