Category Archives: Agents

Following the successful re-launch of its eLearning programme in the fall with the introduction of the Bronze level, Insight Vacations is now releasing the Silver Level on its Insight Specialist eLearning Programme. The second level of the new course is designed with travel advisors in mind and focuses on offering them a deep understanding of what makes the brand unique in the market. Whether a novice or an Insight Vacations expert, advisors will benefit from the course by having access to a bank of examples showcasing what makes Insight holidays unique for clients and through the tools, knowledge and confidence to sell Insight Vacations. The company is currently offering Early Payment Discount (EPD) with savings of 10 per cent* when clients book and pay in full by 28th February 2020. “The Silver Level of the Insight Specialist eLearning program is designed to provide Travel Advisors concrete examples of our distinctive features,” says Anthony Lim, Insight Vacations, Managing Director, Asia. “This enables advisors to highlight what makes Insight’s journeys so personal, stylish and magical, which in turn will benefit them with increased sales, rewards and elated clients. The timing couldn’t be more ideal with Insight Vacations’ Early Payment Discount offering our valuable Travel Advisors the opportunity to secure their clients’ spots on 2020 journeys with savings,”  Lim concludes. The Insight Specialist Gold Level will be available at a later date.  

Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has launched a destination wedding package, in a bid to promote tourism in the region. The above package will be available at six Panthanivas (a chain of hotels operated by OTDC) in Rambha, Gopalpur, Chandipur, Puri, Konark, and Barkul. Development work on these places would be started during the first phase. Shreemayee Mishra, Chairperson, OTDC, has reportedly said that apart from the wedding package, the newly-wed pair would also get a complimentary honeymoon as well as packages for their first two marriage anniversaries. She further said that since people are interested in destination weddings, it is expected that this new initiative is likely to become a trendsetter. The wedding package would cost around INR 2.17 lakh, which will cover the cost for two days and would include 25 rooms, the main wedding meal, three principal meals for 50 persons, basket snacks, cocktail snacks, mineral water in the rooms, and the wedding drum. The price may increase in case people require more facilities. The package can be booked online and it could further be extended to other Panthanivas of the state.

Vachirachai Srisumpan has been appointed as the new Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), New Delhi office, and will be taking up his new role from February 1, 2020. He will be replacing Isra Stapanaseth, who would now move to Bangkok to take up his new assignment, after working as Director of TAT, New Delhi for 4 years. Speaking at the Amazing Thailand evening in the capital Srisumpan, said, “I am honoured to be lucky and to be the representative of TAT in New Delhi. The Indian market is a great opportunity and a very important market for Thailand. We have very good partners with the travel agents and media here. I hope to take forward the work done by Isra Stapanaseth.”

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has launched its new chapter in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The office bearers of the new chapter were unanimously elected and Jose T K from Jose Travels was named the Chairman. Hari Om Jhunjhunwala of Rashi Travels is the Secretary; Mandeep Duggal of Ondigo Travels is the Treasurer, while Shailendra Khare of Network Travels has been named as the Advisor of MP chapter. Present at the launch of the new chapter from national level were Pradeep Lulla, President, TAFI, along with Aditi Bhende, Secretary General, TAFI; Jayesh Tharani, Treasurer, TAFI and Teddy M. Thomas, Joint Treasurer, TAFI. Jose TK said that they will initiate discussion with various airlines to induct a flight to Bangkok from Indore as well as international flight operations from Bhopal & domestic sectors like Surat, Cochin, Pune & Chandigarh from Indore.

Association of Buddhist Tour Operators (ABTO) has opened its Asian office in Pattaya, Thailand. ABTO also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) for co-operation in the field of travel and tourism, with an aim to promote Buddhist pilgrimage tourism between the two countries. The MoU was signed by Kaulesh Kumar, Secy. General, ABTO and Bang-on Janasanthia, Committee Member, ATTA.

Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, OTOAI, has elected a new team. Riaz Munshi (N. Chirag) has been elected as the President; Himanshu Patil (Kesari Tours), has been elected as the Vice President; Shravan Bhalla (High Flyer) is the new General Secretary; Vineet Gopal (Engee Holidays) has been elected as the Joint Secretary and Siddharth Khanna (Khanna Enterprises) has been elected as the Treasurer. The members of the new committee members are, Mahendra Vakharia, Adl Abdul Karim, Gurdeep Singh Gujral, Ankush Nijhawan, Arshdeep Anand and Monia Kapoor.  

The first of the three-city Incredible India roadshow was held at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore and witnessed participation from 25 Indian tour operators and DMCs along with representations from the state governments of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. India Tourism Office in Singapore said that the roadshow provided a platform to the stakeholders of India’s tourism industry to interact with their Singaporean counterparts and position  India as a preferred destination for tourists of Singapore. After Singapore, the Incredible India roadshow will take place in Kuala Lumpur on December 10 and in Bangkok on December 12. A total of 1,75,852 tourists from Singapore visited India in 2017, a growth of 7.4 per cent on the year.

The second edition of PATA Tourism Powerhouse, presented by the Inder Sharma Foundation (ISF), concluded at The Park, New Delhi on December 6, 2019, with the attendance of the stalwarts of tourism industry from India and outside, who shared knowledge and forecast for tourism in India and across the world. The day-long event was inaugurated by Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA; Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India and Chairman, PATA India Chapter; Jatinder Taneja, Vice- Chairman, PATA India Chapter; John Koldowski, Special Advisor to CEO, PATA  and Professor, School of Tourism, Leshan Normal University, Sichuan Province, China; Priya Paul, Chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels; Arjun Sharma, Trustee, ISF and Chairman, Select Group; Neeraj Ghei, Chairman, ISF and SanJeet, Hony. Treasurer, PATA India Chapter.

The second edition of PATA Tourism Powerhouse, presented by Inder Sharma Foundation, will present a huge line-up of speakers. The speakers include, Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary Tourism and Chairman, PATA India Chapter; Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA; John Koldowski, Professor, School of Tourism, Leshan Normal University, Sichuan Province, China; Sarah Mathews- Group Head of Destination Marketing APAC, TripAdvisor; Damian Cook, Founder and CEO of E- tourism Frontiers; Greg Klassen , Principal, Twenty31 Consulting; Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Atil, Founder and CEO, COTRI; Kapil Kaul, CEO & Director of CAPA South Asia; Sam McGoun, CEO, Impact Tourism; and Parishmita Gogoi, Student, Masters in Travel and Tourism Management, Amity University. Jatinder Taneja, Vice- Chairman, PATA India Chapter, revealed, “We have flown in a lot of international speakers who will be talking to us, or educating us about the global trends going on in tourism. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA international will also be coming. There will be Professor Wolfgang Georg Arit from China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), who will be speaking about Indo-China tourism and how we can get a lot of tourists from China. We are also going to talk about the perspective of the new generation traveller and what all he/ she are expecting from tourism and how they want to travel. At the same time, we have Sara Mathews from TripAdvisor, who will be speaking on high impact of social media on tourism. Hence, we have got many interesting subjects, and there will be a lot of learning from all these international speakers and we expect that it will go well.”

Jyoti Mayal has been announced as the new TAAI President for the term 2019- 2021. Jay Bhatia, Tulsidas Khimji Holidays has been appointed as Vice President (Unopposed); Bettaiah Lokesh, Triway Travels has been elected as Hon. Secretary General and Shreeram Patel, Unicorn Travels has been elected as the Hon. Treasurer. Jyoti Mayal has been elected as the President of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) for the term 2019-21. This was announced on November 28, 2019 at Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai after TAAI’s 68th Annual General Meeting followed by the elections of the Office Bearers and members of the Managing Committee for the term 2019 – 2021. While Jay Bhatia was elected as the Vice President unopposed, Bettaiah Lokesh from Triway Travels is the Honorary Secretary General. Shreeram Patel of Unicorn Travels has been elected for the post of National Treasurer.    Jyoti Mayal, incoming President, TAAI, says, “My most important agenda is that we should have a very strong say with the government and the airlines. That can only happen when we are recognised as an industry. We need a unified procedure set by the government as to how we should operate as an industry. We will be able to achieve this only when we have the government on our side. Taxes are another thing which is very relevant like GST and TCS and we are suffering because of that. We are already in negotiations with the ministries and we are very hopeful that we will achieve our targets. There is also another thing that is very close to my heart and that is empowering women. Women are multi-taskers and we would like more women in the industry to …