Book fair comes to a close with 20 per cent increase in footfall

As the largest retail book fair in Asia, nearly 13 lakh people visited the 13-day book fair. More than 20 crore books were sold by the 800 stalls, and the fair saw a rise in footfall by 20%.

“The intention of BAPASI is to encourage and inculcate the reading habit back to the public. Despite holding the fair for less amount of days compared to last year, we still got a higher rate of footfall than last year,” said RS Shanmugam, president of BAPASI, adding that the fair was a great opportunity for retailers to connect with target audiences and other sellers.

To attract younger crowds, all the books were sold at a 10% discount, and free tickets were given to students from different institutions.

“There has been a consistent crowd of people especially in the first few days. There is still interest among bibliophiles in the city to buy physical books and give business for local retailers,” said Silambarasan M, from Sapna Books, which features a stall at the fair.

One of the highlights of the fair was the Keeladi-Eeladi exhibition, a 3,000 sq ft exhibition held in association with the Department of Archaeology which showcased replicas of the findings at Keeladi.

The event was inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who also presented awards to 20 writers who had been in the field for over 25 years.