Tag Archives: IATO

EM Najeeb, Managing Director, Air Travel Enterprises has been elected as the Senior Vice President at the IATO elections. Another new entrant in the core committee of IATO is Rajesh Mudgill, Managing Director, Planet India Travel, who has been elected as the Honorary Secretary. Thanking everyone for the victory, Najeeb said, “It’s a great honour and pleasure for me to have been elected as the senior VP of a prestigious association such as IATO. I want to assure my wholehearted commitment and support for serving this organisation with my team members by work together to reach newer heights.” Confirming his earlier membership with IATO, Mudgill said, “I would like to thank the IATO members for their support. I have worked with many members of this team in the past and want to reassure everybody that we will now work together. I am confident I will be able to take my members’ voices to my team and resolve their issues.”          

The Indian Association of Tour Operators held its election on April 28, 2018 and announced the new team for the 2018-20 period. The returning officer for the election was Akshay Kumar, Vice Chairman, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH). Pronab Sarkar has been re-elected as the President unopposed, while Rajiv Mehra was also re-elected as the Vice President unopposed. Ravi Gosain is the new Treasurer and Rajnish Kaistha is the new Joint Secretary, both of whom were elected unopposed too. The voting was conducted for the position of Senior Vice President, Honorary Secretary as well as EC Members in the EC active and allied category. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO said, “We are glad that the members have chosen us to represent them at IATO. The new team has a few new members and I am sure they will bring new ideas to be implemented to build a better working atmosphere in the association. I congratulate the new team and welcome all of them to work for the members together.”

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has announced their biennial election, which will be held at The Ashok, New Delhi on April 28, 2018. Akshay Kumar, Vice Chairman, Federation of Associations of Indian Tourism and Hospitality will preside over the election as returning officer. Kumar had conducted the elections in 2016 as well, when the current team was elected. The protocols and nominations for the elections shall start in one week.

Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, expresses his discontent over the Union Budget 2018, saying there was nothing in it for tourism. “The Union Budget 2018 has nothing to offer to the tourism industry. We are not happy as there was no relief from double taxation in GST which was our major concern. Even after focusing on job creation, the government has ignored that tourism could be a major facilitator for job creation. Under GST Goods and services should be under the same purview. Since there is no respite from cascading taxation, India would remain a costlier destination than its neighbouring countries for tourists. The only positive is the focus on infrastructure, wherein they have introduced sea planes, 99 smart cities, 10 new destinations, enhanced experience at 110 Adarsh monuments, airport expansion, etc. Also, Corporate Tax of 25 per cent is extended to companies with turnover up to Rs. 250 crore in financial year 2016-17. Earlier, this was for companies with turnover of Rs. 50 crore. Even road and rail transport have got an increased budget. However, businesswise there is no change,” Sarkar said.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is keen to conduct an educational seminar on the Northeast for its members. The association feels that there is a need for its members to learn about the Northeastern destinations and know about the ground realities of the same, to be able to sell it to their clients. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “We are willing to organise the educational seminar for our members around India with the help of local members in Northeast, so that they are well aware of the region’s destinations. We are waiting for our members to show interest for the same to take forward the idea soon.”

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has elected its new team with Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC, as the Chairman, who was nominated by Hotel Association of India (HAI). The Vice Chairman is Akshay Kumar, CEO, Mercury Himalayan Explorations, who was nominated by Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI). The association also created an additional position of Vice Chairman, for which they have elected Sunil Kumar R, CEO, Travel World, who was nominated by Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).  Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC Travel Group, who was nominated by Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), is the new Honorary Secretary, while Garish Oberoi, Partner, Hotel Uberoi Anand, has been declared as the Treasurer. Aashish Gupta continues as the Consulting CEO of FAITH. All the above positions have been unanimously elected by the FAITH Board.

All travel trade agencies recognised or approved by the Ministry of Tourism are required to submit their data on digital transactions on a monthly basis, positively by the 20th of every month starting August 1, 2017 to the Ministry. The Ministry of Tourism had assigned travel trade associations including IATO, TAAI, ITTA, ADTOI and ATOAI the responsibility to promote digital transactions in the tourism sector. MOT had mailed the associations on Sept 22, 2017, regarding furnishing and submission of the same to the Ministry. The MOT will consolidate the data on digital transactions in the organised sectors for review by the PMO through the Ministry of Electronics and Information & Technology.

After successfully concluding its annual convention in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha from September 7-10, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has announced its first outbound convention in Sri Lanka. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, reveals, “We have been given a green signal from the Sri Lanka Tourism Board for our first outbound convention that will be held from October 2-5, 2017 in Colombo. We will be working on that now and will inform our members as soon as we return to New Delhi. This will be the first outbound convention that will be organized by IATO. We will discuss the agenda for that and announce it within a few days.”  

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will be having its 2018 convention in Andhra Pradesh. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “The 2018 convention of IATO will be held in Andhra Pradesh. However, the city and the venue for the same has not been decided as yet.” Currently, IATO is geared for its 33rd Convention, which is to be held from September 7-10, 2017 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, and expected to see members and delegates in big numbers.

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.”