SATTE 2012, South Asia's leading B2B travel and tourism trade exhibition, reinforced its premier position with a record 19th edition. Serving the inbound, domestic and outbound markets, the show, now spread over five halls at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, was inaugurated by Sanjay Kothari, Additional Secretary for the Ministry of Tourism on 10th February 2012.

Also present for the inauguration were many leading lights from across the industry, they included: Subhash Goyal, IATO President; Iqbal Mulla, TAAI President; Ajay Prakash, TAFI President; Subhash Verma, ADTOI President; Alla Peressolova, Head of UNTWO Fairs and Silk Road Programmes; Navin Berry, Founder and Principal Advisor SATTE; Biji Eapen, IAAI President; and Karl Dantas, ETAA President. They were joined by the organizers of this event, Jime Essink President & CEO, UBM Asia; Michael Duck Executive VP, UBM Asia; and Sanjeev Khaira, Managing Director, UBM India.

Sanjay Kothari, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India said, "SATTE has consistently been growing. It has grown from one and half pavilion to 10,000 square metres. The UBM Group will keep the SATTE's flag flying. We have been actively participating in SATTE. India is a country of the future. In many countries, tourism is a major employment generator and source of economic development. It is the industry which employs the maximum number of people. Tourism has been taken as an engine of employment generation in 12th Plan in India."

Subhash Goyal, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) said, "I must congratulate UBM Group for giving SATTE an international dimension. All associations, sitting here, are founder of SATTE and we will continue to support. We will make SATTE like ITB and WTM, or even better. Hence, SATTE will continue to grow."

SATTE 2012 was a unique back to back series of events—first in Delhi from February 10-12, 2012 and then at The Leela Hotel, Mumbai from February 15-16, 2012. It was organized by UBM India in collaboration with UNWTO.

longside the exhibition, a strong conference programme was delivered by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Key topics discussed included: Tourism—A Driver of Indian Economy; Emerging Innovations in Tourism Industry; Enhancement of Tourism Products & Development of New Products and Inbound; Domestic & Outbound Tourism—A Complete Tourism Phenomena; and Scaling New Heights—Effective Marketing Strategies. Together they showcased the potential of India as a global player in the travel & tourism industry.

At the conference, the Confederation of Indian Industry & PricewaterhouseCoopers released a key report for the Hospitality Industry, which showed the industry is expected to witness strong growth during the next 3- 4 years. It also highlighted that despite this growth that India will still face a shortage of 150,000 hotel rooms in the next five years. It also highlighted there is likely to be a focus on opening Budget & Mid-Market Hotel properties.

A special UNWTO presentation by Alla Peressolova, Head of UNTWO Fairs and Silk Road Programmes, titled: Tourism towards 2030—A Global Overview, highlighted that tourism, was identified by the UN as one of ten key sectors for a green economy.

Ms Peressolova reported that FTAs (foreign tourist arrivals) for year ending December 2011 were 6.29 million; this is an impressive growth rate of 8.9% year on year.  This compares favourably to UNWTO's projection of 5% for the world and 7% for the Asia-Pacific region.  Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) showed healthy growth of 20% in 2011, bringing the total FEE value at INR 77591 crores.

SATTE 2012 witnessed first time participation from a large number of new destinations, these included: Argentina, Israel, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, Monaco & Macau; as well as participation from International Tourism Boards (NTO's) including Mauritius, Turkey, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Thailand, Malaysia, Spain, Maldives, Japan, Fiji Islands, Egypt, Korea, Hong Kong, Oman, New Zealand, Indonesia, Jordan amongst others. Indian State Tourism offices were also present in force, this year's show attracted key states including Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Lakshwadeep, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and New Delhi as well as Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India.

Following the tremendous success of SATTE in New Delhi, Mumbai West was delivered as an extension to the main show in order to promote the western region players, the interiors of Maharashtra, and some key tier I & tier II cities of the western region.

Commenting on the participation & networking opportunities at SATTE 2012, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir said, "SATTE is the right platform to send the right message to global tourism market. Kashmir is as safe as any other destinations in the world. We had a record year of 2011 in terms of tourist arrivals. We will continue to receive record tourists in 2012. Our effort is to build up the tourism industry in Jammu and Kashmir."

SATTE 2012 New Delhi had over 550 exhibitors from 33 countries and 23 Indian states including Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India. SATTE Delhi had 6,249 unique qualified buyers & sellers excluding repeat buyers and unregistered walk-ins. This represented an impressive year on year growth of 6.7%.  For SATTE Mumbai West, the two day event attracted a record number of local buyers who met with 70 leading international and domestic exhibitors.  Together the events cemented SATTE's position as the number one B2B show serving the Indian travel and tourism industry.

This year's overwhelming response has set the pace for SATTE 2013, with more than 50% of the current year exhibitor's already confirming their participation. SATTE 2013 will take place at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from January 16th-18th, 2013.