Category Archives: Agents

The #TogetherThailand digital campaign by TAT India has entered into the second week where ‘Food experiences in Thailand’ will be the key theme. The contest for Pan India travel agents and OTAs will focus on local food, street food, cooking class, food tours (tuk-tuk and bus tour), and Indian food in Thailand.

Subhash Goyal, Hony. General Secretary, FAITH has suggested that India Tourism Mart (ITM) will be held by the end of November 2020. “This will help in promoting India to the tour operators all over the world.  Last two years, we had 250 buyers, this year in the virtual mart we hope to interact with more than 500 leading travel agents and tour operators from all over the world,” he said. Goyal also thanked the  Tourism Minister for agreeing to organise a joint meeting of the Indian travel agents and tour operators with the Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri to sort out the pending issues of the tourism industry with Civil Aviation. FAITH also suggested for better coordination an Inter-Ministerial Task Force be formed chaired by the Tourism Minister consisting of mainly with Tourism, Civil Aviation, Commerce, Home, External Affairs & Railways along with the members of the tourism industry. An Inter-State Task Force should also be formed which should include all State Tourism Secretaries.  

Mehernosh Colombowalla, Director – Beyond Borders Travel Management Company says that he has sailed through the past few months by inspiring his clients to keep their travel dreams alive during this long hiatus. While he spoke at the 5th TravTalk Digital Conclave, he said, “As professionals in the tourism space we understand that regaining consumer confidence in travel is key to regenerating the industry. Clients do not have direct access to airlines & hospitality & thus shortly after lockdown, we invested our time in connecting with our clients, updated them with all the positive developments & factual information given to us by aviation, hospitality & tourism sectors. In the bargain, gained trust & became their validation point for various travel-related information. We spoke to them about new & less frequented destinations and sent them short videos on interesting & unique experiences around the globe – to keep their travel interest alive. Sent them information on the various safety procedures & new norms in travel. All this helped in generating business opportunities for us.” Talking about the future, he says, travel agents will need to become more ambitious in how they design experiences. As a new paradigm of luxury travel that is life-enriching & value-based is emerging.

Mehernosh Colombowalla, Director, Beyond Borders Travel Management Company, believes that going forward, when travel restarts, there should be relaxation in refunds and cancellations form service providers like hotels, airlines and tourism boards. “Going forward, I would like to see a little more relaxed policies from service providers in terms of cancellations and refunds so. For example, when a client is overseas and gets infected by the virus, we would expect the hotel to give refund on the remaining part of the stay, and airlines should be more accommodative in both charges for re-booking or even refund on the return portion of the journey, whatever the fare type maybe, in case the client has to come back on the first available flight. Hence, collectively we just need to work together to build trust and make sure that the client does not feel that he’s going to have huge losses if he contracts the virus when he is on a vacation overseas,” he commented at the 5th TravTalk Digital Conclave.

Mahendra Vakharia, MD, Pathfinders Holidays, believes that the key to do business in the time of crisis, as well as after it. “We generated business and revenue during COVID because we remained connected with our clients, kept in touch with them and showcasing them the possibilities and options. Going forward, we will have to do a lot of handholding of our clients throughout the journey, especially regarding their safety and educating them about the protocols and rules,” he said while speaking at the 5th TravTalk Digital Conclave.

Get insights on profitability, marketing approach and inspiring the confidence to travel at TravTalk’s 5th Digital Conclave today at 3 pm. Panellists include international speakers and real heroes who lead by example. Two power-packed sessions will exclusively focus on money and profitability. To register for the sessions, email to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +919650196532.

7M Tours has launched a global job search portal, Tourism Jobs primarily for companies in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. The portal was launched virtually amidst the presence of travel trade leaders from around the world. From India, Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI among others took part and lauded the noble initiative. The portal is live at www.tourismojobs.com.

In an effort to bring back tourism to India, 12 inbound operators will travel to Rajasthan between 6-9 August, 2020. The initiative named ‘Unlocking Tourism – India is Ready’ will have a 20-people contingent visiting offbeat destinations of Rajasthan namely Tijara, Kesroli, Talabgaon and Geejgarh. The idea was conceived in a Whatsapp group called ‘Inbound Fraternity’ and was further initiated by Sanjay Razdan, Managing Director of Razdan Holidays, and Sunil Misra, Managing Director of Cosmos Travel.

In a series of online meetings, 35 registered trade associations representing different tourism sectors from Kerala unanimously decided to continue under one organisation called Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI). They re-elected EM Najeeb as President. A 65-member committee and 35-member Task force was also formed. Sajeev Kurup, Former Secretary of KTM Society, has been elected as the General Secretary. The main aim of CKTI is to ensure survival and then revival of the industry during and after the pandemic.

Air India, in a circular, has written to the travel agents against overcharging for the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flights. The national carrier has recently opened the Vande Bharat Mission flight booking for travel agents and other OTAs. Now, they have warned travel agents against overcharging for VBM flights and said that if any agents found doing the same, they will lose their authority to sell Air India tickets. Air India has asked passengers to check fares on https://bit.ly/309voT7 and not overpay for Vande Bharat Mission flights.