The Madesh Travel Mart 2026, a landmark tourism promotion initiative aimed at connecting the rich and diverse tourism offerings of Madesh Province with the vast Indian tourism market, has concluded successfully across multiple venues, including Birgunj, Jitpursimara, and Janakpurdham. Organised primarily by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) with co-organisation by Jitpur Simara Sub-Metropolitan City and facilitated by the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) Madesh Province, the three-day event has been widely hailed as an important milestone in Nepal’s efforts to expand cross-border tourism cooperation with India and establish Madesh Province as a premier religious, cultural, and cross-border tourism destination.
NTB’s Officiating Chief Highlights Strategic Vision for Madesh Tourism via Madesh Travel Mart
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Madesh Travel Mart 2026 in Birgunj, Mr. Hikmat Singh Ayer, Officiating Executive Chief of the Nepal Tourism Board, articulated a clear and ambitious strategic vision for the event and for Madesh Province’s tourism future. He emphasised that the Travel Mart had been organised with the specific and purposeful objective of bringing the tourism products of all eight districts of Madesh Province directly to the attention of Indian tourism business operators and market stakeholders.
Underscoring the unique and powerful advantages that Nepal and India share as neighbouring nations, Ayer highlighted the open Nepal-India border, the deep shared religious and cultural heritage that binds communities on both sides of the boundary, and the close and historic people-to-people relations between the two countries as the most important and natural foundations upon which a thriving cross-border tourism partnership can be built. He expressed strong confidence that events such as the Madesh Travel Mart play a crucial and irreplaceable role in translating these natural advantages into concrete increases in Indian tourist arrivals to Nepal.
“We are conducting various travel marts from east to west, targeting India’s regional markets. We are also confident that such programs will be effective in protecting and promoting the large tourism investments made by the private sector in the Terai and mid-hill regions,” Ayer said, outlining the broader national significance of the Madesh Travel Mart within the NTB’s wider tourism promotion strategy.
The Third Chapter of Madesh Travel Mart 2026: Building on a Foundation of Progress
The Madesh Travel Mart 2026 represents the third major tourism promotion initiative organised in Madesh Province, building on the foundations laid by two previous events, the Madesh Conclave and the Madesh Travel Meet, which preceded it. This continuity of engagement reflects a sustained and long-term commitment by the Nepal Tourism Board and its partners to the development of Madesh Province as a significant tourism destination, rather than a one-off promotional exercise.
Each successive event has deepened the relationships between Nepali and Indian tourism industry stakeholders, expanded the visibility of Madesh Province’s tourism assets in the Indian market, and generated progressively greater interest from Indian tour operators, travel agents, and media professionals. The 2026 Travel Mart, with its expanded scope, multi-venue format, and larger participant numbers, represents the most ambitious and comprehensive iteration of this ongoing promotional series to date.
Multi-Venue Format Showcases Madesh’s Geographic Diversity
One of the most distinctive and strategically significant features of the Madesh Travel Mart 2026 was its multi-venue format, with events held across Birgunj, Jitpursimara, and Janakpurdham, three cities that collectively represent the geographic, economic, and cultural diversity of Madesh Province. This deliberate choice to spread the event across multiple locations rather than confining it to a single venue allowed participants to experience firsthand the varied character and tourism potential of different parts of the province.
Birgunj, as one of Nepal’s most important border cities and a major gateway for trade and tourism between Nepal and India, provided the ideal setting for the mart’s inauguration and for discussions on cross-border tourism development. Jitpursimara, as a growing urban centre with significant economic and tourism potential, added another dimension to the event. Janakpurdham, as the birthplace of Goddess Sita and one of the most sacred and visited religious pilgrimage destinations in South Asia, brought the event’s focus on religious and cultural tourism to life most authentically and powerfully possible.
55 Indian Tourism Professionals and Media Join the Mart
The Madesh Travel Mart 2026 attracted strong and enthusiastic participation from across the border, with approximately 55 Indian tourism business professionals and media representatives making the journey to Madesh Province for the three-day event. This significant Indian delegation represented a broad cross-section of India’s tourism industry, including tour operators, travel agents, and journalists specialising in travel and tourism, all of whom brought with them both the commercial capacity and the media reach to meaningfully amplify Nepal’s tourism message in the Indian market.
On the Nepali side, 25 tourism business professionals from Madesh Province and other provinces of Nepal participated alongside local government elected representatives and tourism sector stakeholders, creating a well-rounded and representative gathering of Nepal’s tourism community. The combined presence of Indian buyers and Nepali sellers in a single, focused event setting created ideal conditions for productive business engagement and the formation of new commercial partnerships.
B2B Interactions, Panel Discussions, and Familiarisation Tours
The programme of activities at Madesh Travel Mart 2026 was carefully designed to maximise both the business value and the experiential depth of participants’ engagement with the event. Business-to-business (B2B) interaction sessions between Nepali and Indian tourism operators formed the commercial backbone of the mart, providing structured opportunities for direct engagement, package negotiation, and partnership discussions between buyers and sellers from both sides of the border.
Complementing the B2B sessions were panel discussions on contemporary and pressing issues in the tourism sector, offering participants a forum for sharing expertise, debating challenges, and exploring new ideas for the development of cross-border tourism. Networking sessions provided additional informal opportunities for relationship building and information exchange among participants.
Perhaps most memorably, familiarisation tours to Madesh Province’s key religious, cultural, natural, and tourism destinations gave Indian participants a firsthand and immersive experience of what the province has to offer, an experience that no brochure or digital presentation can fully replicate. These tours are widely regarded as one of the most effective tools in destination marketing, allowing travel professionals to speak with genuine personal authority and enthusiasm when recommending Nepal’s Madesh Province to their clients back home.
Establishing Madesh as Nepal’s Premier Tourism Gateway
Senior Manager Uday Bhattarai of the Nepal Tourism Board, who provided detailed information about the event’s organisation and outcomes, expressed confidence that the Madesh Travel Mart 2026 will make a significant and lasting contribution to establishing Madesh Province as an important tourism gateway to Nepal and as a major destination for religious, cultural, and cross-border tourism. He emphasised that the province’s unique combination of open border access, deep religious significance, anchored by world-renowned sites such as Janakpurdham, rich cultural traditions, and diverse natural landscapes gives it a compelling and distinctive tourism proposition that deserves far greater recognition in both the Indian and international markets.
Local Government Commits to Tourism Development
The event in Simara saw strong and enthusiastic participation from local government leadership, reflecting the commitment of Madesh Province’s local authorities to tourism development as a priority area. Jitpur Simara Sub-Metropolitan City Mayor Rajan Poudel expressed confidence that such events are genuinely productive and impactful in promoting Madesh Province’s tourism and affirmed that the local government is fully committed to connecting the tourism potential of border areas with international markets.
Deputy Mayor Bhola Prasad Adhikari of Jitpursimara Sub-Metropolitan City, Head of the Indian Consulate General Devi Sahay Meena, Madesh Travel Mart 2026 Coordinator and NATTA Madesh Province President Mohan Sharma, NATTA Koshi Province President Punya Prasad Bhattarai, and Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Chitwan President Om Pandey were among the prominent personalities whose participation added institutional weight and credibility to the event. The presence of Indian Consulate General Head Devi Sahay Meena in particular underscored the diplomatic significance of the event and the importance that India attaches to strengthening tourism ties with Nepal’s Madhesh Province.
A Platform for New Packages, Investment, and Lasting Partnerships
The diverse programme of activities at Madesh Travel Mart 2026, encompassing B2B meetings, panel discussions, networking sessions, and familiarisation tours, is widely expected to deliver concrete and measurable outcomes in the months following the event. The interactions between Nepali and Indian tourism professionals are expected to generate new tourism package designs, identify new investment opportunities in Madesh Province’s tourism sector, and establish lasting business relationships that will lay the foundation for sustained growth in Indian tourist arrivals to the region.
The Nepal Tourism Board remains firmly committed to building on the momentum generated by the Madesh Travel Mart 2026 through continued engagement with Indian tourism markets, follow-up with participants, and the development of new and innovative promotional initiatives that keep Madesh Province and Nepal’s broader tourism offering firmly in the spotlight of India’s vast and rapidly growing outbound tourism market.
