Visakhapatnam | 13–14 Feb 2026
Visakhapatnam hosted one of ADTOI’s largest domestic trade gatherings on 13–14 February 2026. Working with the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority, the association brought more than 500 buyers to a national travel mart built around direct business meetings, destination education and future travel products. President Ved Khanna was part of the official core team and publicly described the participation as a landmark for the association.
The scale behind the inauguration photograph
The event opened in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh. Its programme included B2B meetings, state tourism presentations, panel exchanges, familiarisation opportunities and cultural showcases. The official event website set the framework around seven anchor hubs and twenty-five thematic circuits, a way of moving attention from one or two headline attractions to a broader statewide product.
Independent reporting placed registrations at around seven hundred, including more than five hundred buyers and over eighty Andhra Pradesh sellers. The Andaman chapter alone sent a delegation of roughly twenty professionals and publicly acknowledged Khanna and the organisers for helping give the islands a platform at the event.
The buyer–seller numbers give the event commercial scale, but the product architecture explains why it was organised. Andhra Pradesh was promoting seven anchor hubs and twenty-five thematic circuits, with potential combinations across coastlines, heritage, spirituality, tribal culture, nature and leisure. A seller in Delhi or Kolkata cannot build confidence in such products from an advertisement alone; direct interaction with suppliers and tourism officials helps establish what is genuinely ready to market.
The official APTM website lists Khanna as part of the core leadership team. BOTT India’s post-event account records his comments on participation and the opportunity offered by the gathering. Additional reporting in The New Indian Express notes more than eighty sellers from Andhra Pradesh. Those sources together support a substantial, measurable narrative rather than generic claims that an event was successful.
Ved Khanna’s national trade leadership at APTM
Khanna’s published statement emphasised the value of firsthand insights and the opportunity to promote Andhra Pradesh through informed tour operators. That is the distinguishing feature of a trade mart: a sizeable audience is useful, but informed buyers who understand destinations, suppliers and workable itineraries are what may ultimately influence future tourism flows.
The Andaman chapter’s roughly twenty-person delegation offers another useful sign of national reach. Members came not only to learn about Andhra Pradesh but also to introduce their own island destination to counterparts. The mart thus worked as an exchange between regions, not merely a one-directional state promotion exercise.
The next step after a trade mart is equally important: buyers need rates, confirmed supplier contacts, product sheets and destination training if they are to move from initial introductions to professionally planned holidays.
What matters after 500 buyers go home
The mart followed the 2025 ADTOI–Andhra Pradesh cooperation agreement and demonstrated the association’s ability to convene travel businesses nationally. The coverage supports that collective achievement without inventing completed sales totals or claiming every registered delegate became a commercial partner.
Industry experience and travel enterprise
Alongside his national association responsibilities, Ved Khanna is identified in ADTOI’s member directory as Managing Director of Tourwala Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., a Delhi-based domestic travel company. His experience in selling real journeys helps explain the commercial questions raised by destination promotion: access, dependable local partners, accurate itineraries and traveller expectations. The work described above was undertaken in his ADTOI capacity; it was not a government appointment or exclusive commercial assignment for Tourwala. Read more about his travel ventures.
Original reporting and event references
The reporting behind this account can be checked against the following original publications and institutional records: