Visitors throng the TTF stalls on Sunday evening. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

A tally of about 30,000 visitors — double that of Mumbai and Delhi — hundreds of bookings and even more queries. That was Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF) 2004, at the end of the four-day run at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

As people trooped out at 7 pm, the figures spoke for themselves, leaving the organisers wide-eyed with wonder and “overwhelmed”.

“Last year, there were 25,000 visitors. The entry fee was increased this time and although about 50 per cent were invitees, that is still a huge number of people. We are very happy,” said Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman and MD, Fairfest Media, organisers of TTF.

Jet Setters, at the Malaysia Tourism stall, had a “phenomenal” 219 spot bookings. Rajasthan Tourism did business worth Rs 20 lakh in cash sales and bookings — “more than last year” according to Manoj Kumar Sharma, additional director, Rajasthan Tourism.

Plus, there were Rs 40-lakh-worth of inquiries. “We believe there will Rs 50-lakh-worth of business (some will follow up later) as a result of TTF. That’s more than last year,” added Sharma.

Sikkim Tourism had 15 bookings, and plenty more queries. That’s apart from the numerous private tour operators who were selling Sikkim.

“About 50 per cent of tourists to Sikkim are from Bengal. So we are trying to give them more destinations, several of which are yet undiscovered,” Sikkim tourism minister R.B. Subba told Metro.

Uttaranchal Tourism had sales worth around Rs 6 lakh, minus private operator figures, who had come over from the state and others marketing packages there.

Overall, Vizag, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh evoked plenty of interest, and apart from holiday packages, hotel and car bookings were also in abundance.

“Surprisingly, however, there were no takers for Singapore, only Thailand and Malaysia” was the official word from Jet Setters. Budget Tours, too, saw a decline, with 15 couples booking package holidays, 10 down from last time. “The crowd just hasn’t been right,” a representative said.

However, new entrant Norway scored high on the novelty scale. “This was an exercise in information dissemination. And it went off very well. There were thousands of queries, and about a hundred were serious travellers. There were even a few who had already been. We were also surprised to learn that travel agents do conduct tours to Norway,” said Rajeev Koul, a representative from the Norwegian embassy.

Newcomer, Indonesia, too, was “very happy”.