Category Archives: Associations

The TAFI Western India Chapter has announced its new team that has been elected unopposed. Jay Kantawala is the new Chairman, Arun Iyer is the new Secretary, Dharmesh Shah is the new Treasurer and Satbir Singh Narula is the Committee Member. The new team’s term will start post the association AGM to be held this evening.

Gajesh Girdhar has been elected as the National Coordinator of NIMA. He shared, the association is now focusing on driving more membership and expanding the team. “Our main goal is to attract a larger number of individuals from tier III and tier IV cities. We anticipate a growth rate of 20 to 25% from these areas. We aim to increase our overall membership by 50%, with 25% of that growth coming from these cities”. In order to achieve this, the association is actively promoting its membership through various activities. “Our MICE forum, which has been successfully running for the past two years, has generated significant interest in membership. The positive word-of-mouth from last year’s event in Jaipur and this year’s event in Amritsar has led to an increase in online applications for membership,” he added.  Furthermore, the associations’ regional coordinators are also making dedicated efforts to attract new members from remote areas. Their commitment and hard work are crucial in bringing in more memberships. NIMA is currently focusing its efforts on the upcoming convention at Resort World, which will take place from August 6th to August 10th. This event is supported by Singapore Tourism, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Resort World Cruises, and Yorker Holidays. 

SC Kamra, Advocate & Taxation Consultant, IATO questioned regularity with which govt. reduced turnover threshold from ₹500 cr to ₹10 cr. “Industry apprehends it to be ₹5 cr, taking tour operators’ compliance cost of e-invoicing,” he added.

According to the global tourism body, WTTC has forecasted that the sector will grow its GDP contribution to ₹ 36.8TN by 2033, approximately 7% of the Indian economy and will employ over 58.2 million people across the country, with one in 10 working in the sector. 

Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI believes that policy contradicts the government’s slogan of “ease of doing business” in India. “It is relief now, but situation is complicated. If such policies continue to emerge, it will be difficult to conduct business.

Reacting to the recent TCS amendment, Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, questioned, “If luxury car attracts only 1% TCS then why is travel fraternity victimized?” He added that the change will provide breather but won’t take away the fact that scheme was hastily implemented.

Global international scheduled seat capacity on offer for the week to 19-Jun-2023 reached 59.9 million seats. Capacity reached a new pandemic era high (97.6% of 2019 volumes).

Julia Simpson, President, World Travel and Tourism Council, emphasized on need of smart visas. “Paper visas is thing of past. India is moving quickly in the e-visas space but it can move faster towards smart QR coded visas like Dubai,” she said.

Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General, UNWTO said, “We must ensure recovery of tourism to be sustainable, inclusive and resilient. Goa Roadmap for Tourism to work as channel for achieving SDGs & offering G20 economies proposed plan leading towards better future.”

PATA India chapter is organizing an exclusive webinar on Artificial Intelligence (AI) & ChatGPT on 4 August 2023 at 11:00 AM (IST). The speaker of the event will be Matt Gibson, CEO – UpThink, a digital agency specializing in content, SEO, influencer marketing, and AI integration for the travel industry.