Tag Archives: TAAI

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has announced that it will conduct its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 28, 2017, in Mumbai at The Lalit Mumbai. This will be followed by its national elections at around 11:30 am at the same venue. Revealing this is Sunil R. Kumar, President, TAAI, who adds, “Currently we are busy with all the statutory processes for the AGM such as reports, financial statements as well as arranging for the election process.” When asked about the annual convention that has been delayed due to various reasons, Kumar says, “We will definitely have our convention, which will happen after our AGM, possibly in January or February 2018. We did the same thing last year as well when we held our annual convention in Abu Dhabi after our AGM.”

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.

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.

  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.

The 4th edition of Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart (MPTM) will be held from October 27-29, 2017 in Bhopal, informed Hari Ranjan Rao, Secretary, Tourism and Public Service Management and Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation. Over 200 national and international buyers and around 100 exhibitors of distinct Indian markets are expected to participate in the mart.According to Surendra Patwa, State Minister, Tourism and Culture (I/C), Kisan Kalyavan and Agriculture Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh, “I am hopeful that this year’s MPTM will open way for more investment in tourism sector in the state. This event will give us the opportunity to create a new tourism policy, water tourism policy, heritage policy, policy of providing accommodation facility centres and home state schemes.” With the theme, Seek-Discover-Explore, the mart will offer a B2B platform to bring together tourism stakeholders and representatives from heritage hotels, conference venues, tour operators and wildlife parks etc. The mart is supported by various trade organisations, like ADTOI, ATTOI, IATO, FAITH, TAAI and TAFI. Rao informed that this year, the number of attendees to the mart is expected to cross over 9 crore. International participants attending the show include representatives from Singapore, Spain, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Thailand, Poland, Austria, Australia, France etc. Rao said, “The travel mart is an opportunity in which the tourism aspects of the state and the policies ad schemes are conveyed to the investors. In the last three years of the Travel mart in Bhopal, it has been experienced that through this one-to-one discussion with tourists, tourism, hospitality and participants of the hotel industry, the efforts being made for the expansion of the area are also being …

The biennial election for Travel Agents Association of India’s (TAAI) Northern Region will be held on July 21, 2017, at The Claridges, New Delhi. Revealing this was Rajan Sehgal, Chairman Northern Region, Travel Agents Association Of India (TAAI). “The nominations are open till July 18, post which we will come to know the final list of nominees,” he said. Neeraj Malhotra, Hon. Secretary Northern Region, TAAI,also revealed that the elections will take place after the annual general meeting of the association and the new executive committee will be announced on the same day.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Northern Region received a huge attendance for its seminar on GST at The Claridges, New Delhi. Sumit Jhunjhunwala, Senior Partner GMJ and Co., Mumbai, gave a presentation on how GST would affect the TAAI members and how they can cope up with the new regime. He also addressed the queries of the members on the application procedure and invoicing under GST.

The Managing Committee of TAAI has decided Kunming as the venue for the 64th Convention & Exhibition of TAAI, to be held from August 18-20, 2017. Sunil Kumar R, President, TAAI, said, “We are excited to inform you that we are hosted by Yunnan Government, People’s Republic of China. The event is being coordinated by MFITS – Mao Fa International Travel Services, a unit of Service Bureau of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China.” The exhibition and inaugural dinner will be held at the InterContinental Hotel, Kunming. The registration forms will be soon rolled out. The registration will be open by July 5, 2017 and close by July 20, 2017. During 2016, TAAI had organised its convention at Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi.

Following close on the heels of national travel trade associations, the Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA) recently conducted a seminar on the impending GST for its members in Mumbai. It was conducted on June 5, 2017, by noted Service Tax expert Manish Gadia, Partner, GMJ & Co, who conducted similar sessions for TAAI as well as IATO. Sudhir Patil, President, MTOA, says, “We welcome the new GST regime though there is a lot of fear factor attached to it. Complications are expected. But I hope that more seminars will help us make this a smooth transition.” The association also launched its website (www.mtoa.co.in) on the same day.