Category Archives: Agents

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has signed an agreement with the Tourist Guides’ Federation of India to increase the guide fee by approximately 10 per cent effective from October 1. The new rates will be valid for a period of two years till September 30, 2021. Sharing more information, Rajeev Mehra, Vice President, IATO said that the agreement has been signed keeping in view the interest of certified tour guides across the country. “IATO President, Pronab Sarkar and TGFI President, Ajay Singh have signed an agreement to hike the fee. The fee and allowances agreed upon should be paid in full and are not negotiable. There will ne no extra charges in addition to the rates agreed upon for escorting groups.” It was also decided that a suitable imprest amount may be given to the guides before the commenecement of their agreement with the mutual understanding in case o outstation trips involving minimum one overnight. Usage and guides and fee structure shall be as per the laid down policies of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

After the success of its inaugural Tourism MasterClass last month, PATA India Chapter is now all set to organise its next educational workshop, an exclusive Business Management MasterClass titled, ‘Entrepreneurial Leadership-The Buck Stops Here’ on July 3 in Delhi. This MasterClass is targeted to attract owners/business leaders and aims to add to their knowledge and business management skills. The session will be conducted by Ashutosh Garg, mentoring expert from the corporate world, who has been a Corporate Leader at ITC on the one hand and a very successful and Professional Entrepreneur on the other, having established the 2nd largest pharmaceutical retail chain in India, Guardian Pharmacy. He has also worked in leadership positions at Lockheed Martin and Hughes. Recognised as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum and as an active member of Young Presidents Organisation, he brings rich experience both in running businesses in India and overseas. Registration are open now and the last date of enrolling is June 25, 2019. Limited seats on first come, first serve basis.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators (ADTOI), along with the Govt. of Gujarat is set to organise its next convention in Ahmedabad, Gujarat from August 16-18, 2019, announced PP Khanna, President, ADTOI at their General House Meeting and GST session held at Hotel Samrat in New Delhi. PP khanna will be the Convention Chairman, while Anil Rajput and Sanjay Saxena will be the Co-Chairman. The venue of the convention has not been decided. Right now, committees are being made for the convention.

The 48th Skål Asia Congress will be held from June 27-30, 2019 in Bengaluru The three-day Congress will be held at Taj MG Road and will welcome around 300-odd delegates from all over the world. Sharing more information on this is Ranjini Nambiar, National President, Skål International India, who says, “There will be around 100 foreign delegates, more than 150 Skåleagues from India and about 50 guests that include sponsors and government dignitaries. Our chief guest will be the Tourism Minister of Karnataka SA. RA. Mahesh who has accepted our invitation.” The event will have two panel discussions and three keynote speakers. Gujarat Tourism will also be part of the Congress.  

 Vivek Jain, Managing Director, Griffon, a cruise specialist in India, has revealed that it is currently working on developing a portal dedicated to the travel agents. He says, “We plan to launch this portal by Diwali time around October 2019. It will be a B2B website which will have real-time inventory of two to three cruise companies that we promote in India. This will allow agents to log in and get real-time availability of inventory, get real-time rates and even make bookings on time limits. So they will be able to get full information with regards to the availability of these cruise liners. It will also have all the ship information, as well as excursion details which they can use to explain to their clients exactly what to expect on the ships.”   Jain however refused to name the ships that have come onboard for this and added that these names will be revealed at the time of launch. Griffon handle sales and marketing activities in India for various international cruise companies including Pullmantur Cruises, Celestyal Cruises and Oceania Cruises.    

Tour operators and travel agents can now create customised tour itineraries for their clients with complete ease with Jumbo Online. This Spanish online company has recently signed on Global Destinations to push its product to the trade here in India. Speaking about this is Pranav Kapadia, Founder & Director, Global Destinations, who says, “Jumbo Online is a global online system and we will be promoting them to the trade here in India. Once registered on this site, agents will get their individual logins and they can start creating itineraries by booking whatever their clients require – hotels, transfers, sightseeing, etc.” Jumbo Online also owns Eden Incoming in Italy. Their core advantage, Kapadia adds, is their good and competitive rates across the board, whether it is hotels, sightseeing or transfers, specially in certain parts of the world like Latin America, Europe, and the US. “Agents can build an entire package on this system and can pay online or offline. Some agents have already registered on the site after knowing about them through our EDMs.”

The secretary general of ICAO, Fang Liu, and the Director General and CEO of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac, have officially launched new ICAO legal guidance on the management of unruly and disruptive passengers. “Unruly and disruptive passenger conduct can pose distinct threats to the safety and security of aircraft, flight crew and passengers,” said Liu. “It can also generate costly disruptions to airlines and passengers alike in situations when aircraft must be diverted to manage these incidents.” “Enhancing safety is the shared goal for governments and airlines, and deterring unruly and disruptive behaviour on flights is key to this,” said de Juniac. “IATA welcomes today’s new ICAO guidance, which is intended to help governments address unruly passengers under their own national law. It covers many practical measures for consideration by policymakers, including ‘on the spot’ fines to boost enforcement action.” The new ICAO manual on the legal aspects of unruly and disruptive passengers is a key result emerging from the adoption of the protocol to amend the convention on offences and certain other acts committed on board aircraft. Its chief aim is to assist national governments in legislating appropriate and better harmonized legal measures to prevent and deal with unruly and disruptive passenger incidents on international flights.

IATA had projected a net profit for the industry of $35.5 billion in its first outlook for 2019, made in December last year. A revised profit of $28 billion for this year would mark a $2 billion reduction on the 2018 industry net profit, which has itself also been revised downwards to $30 billion. In reducing industry profit expectations, IATA says it sees costs rising by 7.4% in 2019 – outpacing a 6.5% increase in revenues. “The business environment for airlines has deteriorated with rising fuel prices and a substantial weakening in world trade” IATA says. On the cost side IATA has increased its expectations for fuel costs – it now expects to average around $70 per barrel Brent crude oil during 2019. That compares with the $65 barrel price it projected in its last forecast. It also see increased non-fuel costs from labour and infrastructure. IATA has also trimmed its revenue expectations for 2019 by $20 billion. It now sees industry turnover growing 6.5% at $865 billion. Source: Flight Global

According to IATA, agents and advisors booking flights for clients through the association’s Passenger Agency Program must ask travelers if they want their contact information shared with airlines in the case of operational disruptions. Agents and advisors will be required to enter the passenger contact information when booking flights beginning June 1. Carriers will be able to use the information to advise passengers of irregular flight operations and disruptions. “In the event the passenger exercises his or her right not to provide contact details it is incumbent on the Agent to indicate that the passenger has declined to provide such details, and to enter the refusal in the PNR to limit any statutory liability,” the IATA rule now reads. “In such a case, the Agent must actively advise the passenger that they may not receive information from the airline relating to flight cancellation or schedule changes (including delay in departure).” For travelers who decline to share their phone number and/or email address, agents and advisors will have to report the client refused to provide the information. While the rule has been in place since 2013, it is now a requirement instead of a recommendation As for how the information will be used, IATA officials said it would not be utilized for marketing or sales purposes, but instead will be for flight cancellations, schedule changes and other related operational notifications. The IATA Passenger Agency Program provides a system for the accreditation of travel agents that meet specific industry standards and financial criteria. Currently there are some 56,261 IATA accredited travel agents operating in 207 countries and territories. (Source: Travel Pulse)

Thomas Cook (India) has launched Holiday Basket – an innovative EMI-powered holiday solution, offering Indian travellers inflation-proof credit based holidays. Thomas Cook India’s data reveals an upwards of 30% demand from young travellers between the age group of 25 – 35 years, who believe in instant gratification even in travel; and through the launch of holiday Basket, it aims to tap into these growing aspirational travel demands. According to recent reports, demand for personal loans for travel purposes grew by 55%, out of which 85% are millennials. A recent survey by Thomas Cook India further validated the strong potential of EMIs for travel, reporting a healthy double digit growth in enquiries from customers across various subsets, especially India’s millennials and middle-class segment. Interestingly, Thomas Cook India’s internal data reveals two key insights on travel trends amongst Indians: 1) a growing aspiration to travel twice in a year with one international long haul vacation and one domestic short haul vacation; and 2) the most preferred domestic destinations for a first time traveller include Andaman, Kerala, Ladakh, Goa, Himachal and the North East, and Bhutan, Thailand, Singapore, Mauritius, Dubai, Bali, Phuket, and Sri Lanka, as international choices.