Category Archives: Associations

After Air India announced offering its inventory solely through its select GDS,  Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) along with Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has urged the airline to review its decision. In a joint statement, the two associations said, “For these agencies including those which do not have access or frequently sell the airline seats on the GDS preferred by Air India, it is quite evident that selling Air India would not be an easy proposition and thus thay may opt for other airlines for their customers. For several established agencies, usage of GDS is governed by global agreements they have entered into and thus switching over or training their staff to get used to this limited GDS access will be a difficult option to cope with.’ On November 5, both the associations had a detailed discussion with the Air India Senior Management and conveyed that this decision of going exclusive on a GDS would be detrimental to the airline and this must be urgently reviewed. The associations are keen that Air India must not suffer any losses that would further damage the health of the airline. The senior management promised to revert in a day and on November 6, the associations received a phone call from them to inform that there will be no change in Air India’s stand. The joint statement goes on to add, “Air India has been reeling under tremendous financial challenges and instead of finding ways to increase its seat sales via an easy access through GDS channels, this move by the national carrier is shocking. The response given by Air India is that this would save its distribution costs. It is a …

K J Alphons, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism, along with a delegation of senior officials is attending the 109th session of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Executive Council in Manama, Bahrain. During the opening day of the Executive Council meeting, Alphons chaired the ‘Programme and Budget Committee’ meeting of UNWTO. The three-day session of UNWTO Executive Council began on October 30, 2018. The Executive Council will discuss several topics on the agenda that are related to the development of global tourism sector. In his opening remarks, the Minister highlighted the role of tourism in socio-economic development through job creation, enterprise and environment development and foreign exchange earnings. As the chair of the committee, the Minister informed the session that for the first time, UNWTO had a surplus budget and most of the arrears due have been paid. India will be the chair of Programme and Budget Committee of UNWTO Executive Council till 2021. At the sidelines, the Minister also met Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General, UNWTO, and discussed on involving UNWTO in developing tourism as a strong agent for the better future of the world and establishing the Global Public Private Partnerships.

The world’s top ten cities in terms of job creation through tourism are Jakarta, Beijing, Mexico City, Shanghai, Bangkok, Chongqing, Delhi, Mumbai, Ho Chi Minh City, Shenzhen, according to World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Annual Cities Report released recently at the WTTC Asia Leaders Forum in Macau. The world’s top ten cities in terms of tourism market size are: Shanghai (US$35bn), Beijing ($32.5bn), Paris ($28bn), Orlando ($24.8bn), New York ($24.8bn), Tokyo ($21.7bn), Bangkok ($21.3bn), Mexico City ($19.7bn), Las Vegas ($19.5bn) and Shenzhen ($19bn). The report covers 72 of the world’s most important tourism cities, which together generated over $625bn contribution to GDP last year (24.3% of global travel and tourism GDP). Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC commented, “With 54 per cent of the world’s population living in urban areas, cities have become global economic hubs, driving growth and innovation. They attract huge quantities of people who travel to experience their culture, do business and live. This growth has also resulted in a rise in city tourism – a trend which is forecast to maintain momentum. Our report highlights the crucial importance of cities to travel and tourism worldwide, and likewise how vital this sector is to the economy. Over half a billion trips are made to cities annually representing 45 per cent of global international travel.” Of particular note, Chinese cities have matured rapidly over the past decade, and are forecast to continue dominating the growth charts between 2017 and 2027. Shanghai, for example, went from being the eighth largest city in terms of travel and tourism GDP in 2007 to become the largest in 2017 – a position it is expected to maintain until 2027.

WTTC’s Power and Performance ranking has placed India at the third spot when it comes to domestic spending, after China and USA respectively. The report revealed that the absolute growth of domestic spending was 2.6 times higher than that of visitor exports over the seven years to 2017. At the global level, domestic spending has grown on average by 4 per cent per year between 2011 and 2017. Over half of the absolute growth in domestic Travel & Tourism spending over the past seven years has come from China alone. In well-established international tourism markets such as Spain, Turkey and UAE, the share of domestic spending has fallen over the years from 2011-17. Iraq and Rwanda took the top two spots in performance rankings for domestic tourism spending across the seven years. Domestic spending is the money spent by residents of a country for both business and leisure trips that take place in that country. Nearly three-quarters of all Travel & Tourism spending (72.3 per cent) is from domestic tourists. While money from domestic tourism is not new money to a country, its use in terms of informing residents of countries’ natural and cultural attributes and engendering a source of pride is essential for social harmony. Domestic tourism is also important in spreading visitor spending to shoulder and off-season months and in dispersing visitors to less internationally-promoted regions and attractions.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has elected their new Managing Committee for 2018-20 term. Praveen Chugh from Business Travels has been chosen as the President unopposed. Pradip Lulla from Cupid Travels & Tours is the new Vice President, Aditi Bhende from Aarohan Tours & Travel is the new National General Secretary, while Jayesh Tharani, Hopco Travels, has been elected as the new treasurer. All the new office bearers and managing committee members have been elected unopposed. The Returning Officer for the election was Ashish Gupta – Founder, Strategy Pluto & Consulting and CEO, FAITH. The Managing Committee members include A Basheer Ahmed, Chennai Metro Travels; Rajat Bagaria, Shrishti Tours & Travels; Urvashi D Mohan, Delfly Travels; Bharat Shah, Sunbeams Travels, Baroda and TeddyM Thomas, Oasis Xpress Travel & Tours. Zakkir Ahmed, Trust Travel & Tours, remain part of the MC as immediate Vice President. The MC further appointed Rajat Bagaria as Joint Secretary and Teddy Thomas as Joint Treasurer. The MC also selected four members representing different regions of the Association— Abbas Moiz, Shoiz International Travel Services, Mumbai; Hitank Shah, Alka Airlink, Ahmedabad; S H Mohideen, Aero Travel Services, Chennai and Vijay Gupta, Golden Phoenix Travels, New Delhi.

The Travel Trade Association of Uttar Pradesh (TTAUP) organised the second edition of Travel Trade Mart (TTM) 2018 at Hyatt Regency, Lucknow. Around 161 travel trade professionals from Lucknow, 22 from Kanpur, 18 from Varanasi, 44 from across UP and 85 metro cities attended the event. As many as 36 exhibitors showcased their products to travel agents and tour operators of UP. The exhibitors encompassed all segments of tourism and hospitality. Awanish Kumar Avasthi (IAS), Additional Chief Secretary and Director General, Department of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, inaugurated the mart. In his address, he said, “These regional travel trade shows are integral to the overall growth of the tourism sector in the state of Uttar Pradesh and should be organised more often.” Vivek Pandey, Pesident, TTAUP along with other office bearers of the association welcomed the chief guest and travel tradae partners from across the country.

With its theme “Together for a Better Tomorrow”, SIHRA Convention is taking place from October 4-5, with participation from nearly 600 delegates. The convention looks at connecting all the south Indian states and brings about varied opportunities in exploring the hospitality and tourism fraternity. The event is expected to be a perfect mix of technology, emerging trends in the beverage and food industry, innovations in hotel projects and women leadership in the hospitality industry, among others. It is being supported by the departments of tourism, governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry.  The event will be inaugurated by Vellamandi N Natarajan, Minister for Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, in the presence of SP Velumani, Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development; KA Sengottaiyan, Minister for School Education; Shri Sellur K Raju, Minister for Co-operation; RB Udhaya Kumar, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management and Dindigul C Sreenivasan, Minister for Forests Department. Edappadi K Palaniswami, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu, said,  The state continues to hold the leading position in tourist arrivals, both domestic and international for the fourth year in a row. I am sure that SIHRA, which has over 1100 hotel and restaurant members playing a major role in providing comprehensive logistic support to all our tourists.” S K Hari Arumugam, Chairman, Organising Committee, SIHRA Convention 2018, said, “It is our objective that each and every fellow member is an integral part of this movement, empowered with a forum to voice concerns and have problems redressed and, to facilitate every member in  enabling them to take advantage of this event and enterprise.”

The annual convention of Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA) is set to be held in Taipei, Taiwan from January 20-25, 2019, as stated by Gajesh Girdhar, National Coordinator, NIMA. A destination showcase is also slated to be held in 2019 but the destination is yet to be finalised. NIMA, a four-and-half-years old association, is a network of MiCE agents. “We currently have 136 numbers with a majority from Tier-II, III cities. With zero membership fee, we have always focused on tapping new markets. For instance, in Spain, everybody has their eyes on Barcelona, Madrid and Apjiza, while we tap the Catalonia region where we had our first convention in 2016. So, now people are aware of Catalonia and all the members are promoting it,” explained Girdhar.  

India is ranked as the world’s third most powerful country for travel and tourism, according to World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) new T&T Power and Performance Report. China, the USA and India take the top three spots in the new Power Ranking which ranks the performance of 185 countries combining growth over the past seven years in tourism’s contribution to GDP, international visitor spend, domestic tourism spend and capital investment. Gloria Guevara, President and CEO, WTTC commented, “World Tourism Day is the global celebration of a sector that contributes 10.4 per cent of the world’s GDP and generates 313 million jobs. WTTC’s new report outlines power and performance rankings which showcase countries that have been most successful in growing their tourism sectors across the board.”

India has been chosen as the host country to celebrate World Tourism Day 2019 on the theme ‘Tourism and Jobs: A better future for all’. Celebrated every September 27 around the world, the purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community on the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and highlight the contribution the tourism sector can make in reaching these goals. Every year, UNWTO invites people of all ages and backgrounds to hold and take part in WTD celebrations in their respective countries or holiday destinations. Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General, UNWTO issues a message each year to mark the occasion and chairs the official celebrations.