Category Archives: Associations

IATA is working with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to put in place scalable, affordable and fast testing systems, revealed Conrad Clifford, Regional Vice-President Asia Pacific, IATA. Alexandre De Juniac, Director General & CEO, IATA had also said last week, “We have a solution to open borders while mitigating the risk of importing COVID-19 through air travel. That is universal testing. There is testing technology that aligns with our requirements for speed, accuracy, affordability, scalability and ease of use in the travel process. And we are seeing momentum towards implementation.”

UNWTO will work alongside the Expedia Group to strengthen ties between the public and private sectors, and drive tourism’s recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership will see them both share data on tourism trends and developments, both at the global and the local scale. This will help in informed decision making through data-based policies aimed at tourism’s sustainable recovery and future development.

IATO in association with TravTalk will be conducting a skill development program for online training of its members on Internet Marketing today from 11:30am to 1pm. Get ready for the masterclass featuring sessions on social media marketing, website marketing and development and effective email marketing. Register at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call on 9650196532.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) voiced its concern about the state of the airline industry in India on Twitter. It said that the government needs to look into protecting the airline industry. ‘SpiceJet and GoAir have not paid crores of rupees as refunds to customers and agents and yet they are in this state. The government needs to give them some breather space when putting fare blankets. Don’t kill the airlines.’

A consumer survey of nearly 3,000 frequent travellers conducted by WTTC in US and Canadian market has revealed that 70 per cent respondents plan to take a holiday in 2021 while 45 per cent of respondents have already made plans or are starting to make finite plans for their next holiday.

Randhir Singh Vaghela, Chairman, Gujarat Chapter, IATO, is leading the #JanAndolan campaign that aims to spread awareness about the safety precautions that the industry needs to follow strictly. He says, “I request the travel industry stakeholders to join #JanAndolan for everyday preventive actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. We must strictly follow three things: wearing a mask at all times, sanitising hands on a regular basis and keep social distancing. For tourism to re-open safely we all have to adhere to this new normal.”

IATO in association with TravTalk is organising a skill development program for online training of its members on Internet Marketing. The masterclass featuring sessions on social media marketing, website marketing and development and effective email marketing starts from October 16. To ensure success post COVID-19, the virtual tour shop is followed by 9 weeks and 40 hours of training. For registration contact Jaspreet Kaur at 9650196532 or Jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com.

Highlighting the reason why domestic tourism has not taken off in India, PP Khanna, President, Association of Domestic Tour Operators Association of India (ADTOI), said, “The GST on tour operators should be 1.8% with full set offs and not 5% which is making domestic tour operators uncompetitive. To survive, the domestic tour operators need to be supported have an operating cash subsidy to pay their salaries and operating costs.”