Successful MILT Congress boosts outbound Indian tourism

Completing half a decade of making business connections for MICE and luxury travel requirements from India, the 2017 MILT Congress facilitated more than 2,100 high-level business meetings and unveiled trends in the preferences of Indian MICE and luxury travel buyers.

The impact of India’s controversial demonetization policy and development of travel-related technology dominated the discussions at the highly successful MILT Congress 2017, which took place on 27th and 28th of July at the Hyatt Regency in Mumbai, as well as on 1st and 2nd August at Andaz Delhi in Aerocity, Delhi NCR.

Facilitating 2,100 one-to-one business meetings over four days, the exclusive platform welcomed over 240 corporate and luxury buyers from India along with travel and hospitality partners from around the world. The partners represented luxury hotel chains, resorts, DMCs, tourism boards, car rental partners, engagement partners and media partners from Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Denmark, Dubai, France, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Macau, Maldives, Mauritius, Montenegro, Norway, Qatar, Sharjah, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, UAE, and USA.

“Over the course of the four days, we received an overwhelming response, with some of the top corporates, luxury travel agencies, leading film production houses, top event management companies and destination wedding planners from all over India participating in the event.

We are pleased to have launched the Delhi edition for MILT this year based on the numerous requests we received from our partners and could not be happier with the result. The launch edition in Delhi was an astounding success with top quality buyers and some of the best destinations for MICE and luxury travel attending,” said Ackash Jain, Director, QnA Global.

“What made the 2017 editions of the MILT Congress a huge success was the unrivalled platform of prearranged one to one meetings along with the conference sessions. Based on the feedback received, all attendees unanimously recognized the congress as the most professionally run, on time and organized event in the country. Also, the unwavering support we have received from all our sponsors and partners who, along with our attendees, took time out from their busy schedules to join us at the two-day conference in Mumbai and Delhi is definitely a major contributor to what made this year’s edition such a huge success,” added Mr Jain.

Indian corporate and luxury travellers are constantly looking to source partners from unexplored destinations around the world, and the MILT Congress is a platform that has been designed to ensure decision makers who finalise travel plans for India’s largest organizations are able to meet partners that meet their travel requirements.

With lucrative outbound MICE and luxury tourism segments, India is poised to become one of the most important outbound markets for global MICE and luxury tourism. Figures from Mastercard predict a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 8.6%, to 2020, taking the total number of outbound travellers from the two segments to 6.5 million a year by 2020.

Although the 2016 policy to demonetize the Rs 500 note has disrupted travel plans for 2017, according to the leading corporate and luxury travel buyers present at the two events, these organizations have implemented successful strategies to overcome the obstacles that have emerged post demonetization and GST, resulting in the continued bloom of outbound travel from the country. These key tactics were also shared by them at the MILT Congress, thus giving all attendees an insight into what they can do to alter their plans and create a smoother process when organizing MICE travel for Indian corporates.

The MILT Congress also revealed the key trends in the luxury outbound travel market from India, with popular destinations being uncovered by leading business owners and CEOs from the country’s biggest EMCs and destination wedding planning companies.

“The unique format of our event, the bespoke one-to-one business meetings interwoven with an agenda that discusses the market mentalities and changing preferences of MICE buyers from India, has always been a hit with our delegate and partners. Key partners have already confirmed for the 2018 edition and we look forward to returning to Mumbai and Delhi next year”, Mr Jain added.