Category Archives: Associations

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced the appointment of Gloria Guevara Manzo as its new President and CEO. She served as Secretary of Tourism for Mexico and CEO of the Mexican Tourism Board from 2010 to 2012, minister in the cabinet of President Calderón. Prior to that, she worked for global distribution system Sabre where most recently she was CEO of Sabre Mexico, reporting to the board of directors of a joint venture between Aeroméxico, Mexicana and Sabre Holdings. She is currently Special Advisor on Government Affairs for the Centre on Health and the Global Environment at the School of Public Health, Harvard. Announcing Guevara’s appointment, Gerald Lawless, WTTC Chairman, said “Gloria is a proven leader who is well known and well respected within the global Travel & Tourism sector. I am delighted that she will lead WTTC into the next phase of its development. She was chosen from a competitive field of international candidates. With a career encompassing senior roles across private sector, government and academia, she brings a unique combination of experience and expertise.”

More than 1200 delegates are expected to attend the 33rd annual convention of IATO, scheduled to be held from September 7-10, 2017, in Bhubaneswar, informed Lally Mathews, Honorary Secretary, IATO and Co-chairman of IATO Convention. Speaking at a luncheon organised by IATO at Eros Hotel New Delhi, Nehru Place, Mathews further added that the theme for the convention this year is ‘India Tourism- Time to reinvent ourselves,’ and Mayfair Bhubaneswar will be the host for the convention. “Odisha offers everything, be it beaches, pilgrimage, hill station, wildlife, shopping, Ayurveda and medical tourism etc. and these are our main consideration to have our convention in Odisha and see these products. Concurrently with our convention, there will be an India Travel Mart which is an opportunity for exhibitors to showcase exciting and diverse range of destinations and conference venues,” said Mathews. Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism and Culture (I/C), Government of Odisha, said, “We hope to offer all support to IATO to make their convention a success. There has been a lot of development on the tourism front in Odisha from the last time when IATO held its convention in Bhubaneswar in 2008 and we hope to showcase the state’s various tourism circuits to the delegates through the post fam tours.”

TAAI Southern Region has elected K. Shahul Hameed (Director, Al-Awhad Travels) as its new Chairman for the period 2017-2019. S. Sakthi Vadivel (Managing Director, Sansar Tours) has been elected as the Secretary, while N. Karunakaran (Managing Director, Vaigai Wings) is the new Treasurer of TAAI-SR. Meanwhile, TAAI South Tamil Nadu Chapter has elected G. Ravichandar (Executive Director, Trichy Airshine Tours & Travels) as their Chairman for the term 2017-2019. The new secretary for South Tamil Nadu Chapter is N. Ravichandran (Managing Director, Sky To Sea Tours & Travels) and G. Ravindran (Managing Director, Sky Wing India Tours & Travel) is the Treasurer.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Western Region Chapter has chosen Sameer Karnani, Director, Arunodaya Travels, and currently serving as the Secretary for the Chapter, as the new Chairman for the Western Region for the new term. Revealing this is Sampat Damani, current Chairman – Western Region, TAAI. “The election for the Western Region was conducted on July 24, 2017. Madhuri Kanga, Treasurer, TAAI – Western Region and myself have stepped down. Sameer Karnani has been elected as the new Chairman and Rajesh Poddar, has taken over as the Secretary. Dharmesh Shah of Dadyson Travels, will be the new Treasurer,” he says. He added that the national elections will be held around the third week of September 2017. He continues to serve as the Chairman of the region until the national elections are held, post which the new team will take over.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) announced the host property for its annual convention- Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. Rajat Sawhney, Vice President, ADTOI, is the Chairman for the convention, while Dalip Gupta, Hony. Joint Secretary, ADTOI will be the co-Chairman for the convention, which is scheduled for Nov 17-19, 2017. While the convention hotel is finalised, ADTOI is currently in talks with other hotels in Vizag as well as with airlines to come up with final packages for the delegates.  

The IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) will conduct its national convention – ICON 2017 – from September 14-17, 2017 at the picturesque Cherai Beach located 25 km from Kochi City. It will be held as a three nights-four days event with the theme ‘Travel Agents by 2030 – Protocols Redefined’. Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, says, “As travel agents are just coming to grips with the newly implemented GST, it will form one of the prime issues for discussion since airline commission is going to be crucial for their survival. The additional BSP charge of US$30 per month imposed by IATA since April 2017 has come at a time when airlines are still denying commission to their own appointed travel agents. As implied by the ICON 2017 Theme, IAAI is all set to launch ‘i-Top’ (Indian Travel-Agents Own Portal), a new revenue model that would safeguard the interests of its members from all the present challenging market conditions.”

India has bagged awards in three categories at the PATA Gold Awards 2017 scheduled to take place in Macao SAR on September 15 during PATA Travel Mart 2017. The Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India will be honoured under the Marketing Media – Travel Advertisement Print Media category for its Go Beyond project, while Kerala Tourism has secured an award for Marketing Media – Consumer Travel Brochure on Film Tourism. Travel provider Cox & Kings is the other winner for its Social Media marketing project Forever Young. Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, said, “On behalf of PATA, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to all 2017 Grand and Gold Award winners. This is no better time and place to celebrate their accomplishments, than this International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in Macao SAR during the 40th Anniversary of PATA Travel Mart. I look forward to celebrating this year’s winners who represent the values of the Association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.”

Addressing the UFTAA 2017 Mid-Year Forum in City of Salerno, Italy, Sunil Kumar R, President, UFTAA, revealed that the organisation is going to come up with a global tourism office in Istanbul by later next month. “UFTAA Global Tourism Office at Istanbul is a new initiative of UFTAA. At the previous world congress of UFTAA held in Istanbul, we did confirm that UFTAA apart from travel matters will embark on tourism, MICE and education in a big way and try to create more opportunities in this area. In terms of tourism, a big initiative has been declared by the UFTAA Board of Directors for establishing the UFTAA global tourism office in Istanbul, which will be manned professionally connecting travel professionals all over the world, encouraging B2B activities, encouraging business exchange between UFTAA associations and UFTAA affiliates.  We are confident that this UFTAA tourism office will also come up with certain systems where we could gift our members certain credibility and status so that when someone sells tourism online, there is a certification from UFTAA which supports such agencies. However, this is a long-term goal. We first need to get members on board, keep the membership active and hope that UFTAA gets new members from different countries around the world,” adds Kumar. He further informed that UFTAA is in talks with the new Secretary General of UNWTO to inaugurate the new office sometime later next month. He says that due to the Qatar crisis, the work on the UFTAA Global headquarters has been kept on the back burner and hopefully there will be a headway on the same very soon.

The Maharashtra Chapter of the IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) recently conducted its Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. The AGM unequivocally declared that the present day maladies being faced by the travel agents fraternity were set off by the downfall of the national carrier that started in 2004 and was eventually hastened from end-2008 when Air India implemented zero commission (within India) to please the Star Alliance Group. Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, said, “The AGM has unanimously decided to demand five per cent commission on gross fare and in turn, the entire travel agent community will wholeheartedly support Air India to regain its name and brand. The AGM collectively looks forward to Air India reversing its anti-travel agent policies and becoming a role model. Air India can only ensure the operation of a flight from one airport to another. But the aircraft seats have to be filled by the traditional travel agents only, as Air India’s web sale volume is marginal. Under the new GST regime, agents can survive only with the commissions as mandated by IATA Resolution 824 (Para 9) and the DGCA Order of March 5, 2010. It will be suicidal to depend on service charges as it may have to be separately invoiced.”

  Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)  has postponed its annual convention, which was scheduled from August 18-20 in Kunming, China. According to a communication shared by TAAI with its members, the association has said that they have not started the registration for the August convention, which was supposed to start on July 5, 2017, owing to few pending approvals and airline seat confirmations. Hence, TAAI has decided to hold the convention at a later date. The new dates and schedule of the convention will be announced soon.