Tag Archives: ATOAI

Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) has elected Captain Swadesh Kumar, Managing Director, Shikhar Travels India, as President for 2016-18. The office bearers were elected unopposed. Ajeet Bajaj, Managing Director, Snow Leopard Adventures is the new Senior Vice President; Tejbir Singh Anand, Managing Director, Holiday Moods Adventures has been elected as Vice President; Rajesh Ojha, Co-founder, Banjara Camps and Retreats is the new Secretary while the position of Honorary Secretary will be held by Vaibhav Kala, Founder, Aquaterra Adventures. “The association will shift its trajectory from Himalayan centric to a pan-India focus for adventure tourism. Since around 22 million Indian travellers go abroad to experience adventure holidays, we plan to involve international members into the association and also focus on outbound segment of travel for adventure tourism,” says Kumar. The elected Executive Committee members are Mohan Tickoo, Managing Director, Kash Venture Travels; Sanjay Basu, Managing Director, Far Horizon Tours; Vishwas Makhija, Managing Director, India Insight Tours; Shashank Gupta, Director, Rucksack Tours; Vinayak Koul, Director, Snow Lion Expeditions and Akshay Kumar, CEO, Mercury Himalayan Exploration, who is also the Immediate Past President.

At the behest of Adventure Travel Operators Association of India (ATOAI), Vinod Zutshi, Secretary Tourism, Government of India, announced the formation of National Task Force on Adventure Tourism for the development and promotion of adventure tourism in India. The National Task Force will be chaired by the Secretary Tourism while the team will comprise Joint Secretary Tourism as the convener, Joint Secretaries of MHA, MEA, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoEF, MOD, Ministry of Sports, Director- Indian Mountaineering Foundation, Principal- IISM, Gulmarg, Director – National Institute of Water Sports, Goa, President of ATOAI, Representative of ATOAI, secretaries of all states concerned with Adventure Tourism and Dy. Director General (Niche Tourism). The task force also aims to resolve the issues related to the segment which includes safety and security of adventure tourists, accessibility, products and promotion, among others. “Adventure travel is facing challenges on multiple fronts, across almost every region in India. Safety, accessibility, licensing and standards are the four pillars of any adventure travel destination and we have to deal with multiple ministries and offices to address these issues. The formation of the National Task Force on Adventure Travel will not only attempt to address these challenges, but at the same time, will be able to highlight our vast plethora of natural assets to international markets – which have till now been ignored,” said Akshay Kumar, President, ATOAI.  “It will allow the great geographical features of India and the adventure tourism opportunities there to become a focus for development and promotion throughout the global markets. This in turn will make the field grow tremendously in revenues, helping Indian tourism to potentially double the number of international tourist arrivals in India,” said …

A national conference is going to be held jointly by IATO, TAAI, TAFI, ATOAI, FHRAI, and ICPB, on January 10, 2017. Subhash Goyal, Immediate Past President, IATO, informed that he has been elected as the Chairman of the Conference which will be called ‘Incredible India Calling’. Goyal also said, “We have requested the honourable Minister of Tourism to write to the Prime Minister to finalise the date. We are expecting around 15,000-20,000 people to attend the conference which will be the mother of all conferences. We hope it to be a grand success.”