Category Archives: Associations

The 14th Annual Convention of Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) is set to be held in Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh from October 25-28, 2018. Keeping the tradition of holding the convention in an adventure destination every year, ATOAI has selected the Araku Valley this year as a venue for its annual convention. ATOAI is expecting over 250 participants mostly the leading adventure tour operators, hotels, DMCs, State Tourism Boards, travel trade from Andhra Pradesh as well as the neighbouring states in South India, officials from the Ministry of Tourism, bloggers and media to interact and network during the convention days. “The idea is to bring small operators from far-flung areas of the state and connect them with the adventure tourism experts, introducing a day of adventure activities to strengthen the fraternity,” said Capt Swadesh Kumar, President, ATOAI. The convention will offer structured opportunities for the travel trade and tourism boards to network for business development. These include networking sessions and a buyer-seller expo where companies may take up table space to promote their products and services. ATOAI has appointed Shekhar Babu (recipient of Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in year 2009 as well as Adventurer of the Year Award by ATOAI in 2017) as Co-chairman of the convention from South India. Delegates will also get an opportunity to go on pre or post-convention Fam tours hosted by Andhra Pradesh Tourism and state industry players.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) is contributing Rs 1 lakh towards the Kerala Relief Fund as part of its CSR activity. A larger amount is also being collected from the members of the association by way of donation for the cause. OTOAI is looking to support the industry members directly/indirectly  including hoteliers, taxi operators, houseboat owners, etc, through this collection of funds.

After the severe floods in Kerala, the tourism industry in the state is geared to be back in business by September 1, 2018, says Sejoe Jose, Chairman, IATO Kerala Chapter. “The airports are expected to open on August 26, and even if we keep a buffer owing to DGCA permissions, it should be operational by September 1. In fact, the airport management is insisting to resume operations from August 26,” he adds. Jose insists that tourists would be able to visit Kerala starting September. “Kerala would be ready to receive guests from the first week of September. However, nobody is expecting the bookings to start immediately as it is going to take time. There have been cancellations as well. At a recent meeting with KTM Society, we estimated a loss of Rs 1000 crores for the tourism industry, for people directly and indirectly affected. The loss owing to cancellations is estimated to be around Rs 120 crores,” he informs.

During the recently-concluded 3rd Skål International India National Congress in Kolkata, Ranjini Nambiar, President, Skål International India has announced the commencement of three new Skål clubs by April 2019. “We are planning to come up with a new Skål club in Jammu & Kashmir, Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar. There is also a possibility of a club in Vizag as well. We are aiming a total of 20 Skål clubs by 2020.” Skål International Asia Area Congress 2019 will be held in Bengaluru from June 27-30, 2019.  

Skål International India’s third Congress welcomes its members to Kolkata. The event is being held from August 17 -19. “This is the third Skål Congress, first we had in Goa, then we had in Kochi and now we have in Kolkata. Its our privilege to call upon all Skal members all over India which is 1250, which is second largest club in th world, to welcome them to Kolkata,” said Sanjeev Mehra, 2nd Vice President Skål International India. “Pan India, all the travel professionals who are  member of Skal are coming to Kolkata participate in the Congress and together we will mvoice as together we can, a slogan which we all like to raise,”said Manav Soni, President, Skal International Kolkata.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has decided to launch an online B2B marketplace for its members. Sharing more details of this, Pradip Lulla, Vice President, TAFI, says, “We are coming up with an online platform for our members and it is already under construction. The idea is to have a marketplace where you can buy and also sell products. On the back end, we will tie up with suppliers – domestic and international. Initially, we will have more focus on accommodation including hotels and home-stays, and the airline products will follow. It will also have a payment gateway and we are talking to different companies for providing the payment solutions.” Speaking about the criteria for such a partner, Lulla adds that the cost for transactions should be lower and it should also be seamless with multiple options for payment. “The site is ready and we are only integrating the back end right now. It is not live yet. We will be releasing a beta version shortly to test it out and remove any bugs. Getting our members on it will take some time but we should have it active within two months. The members will need a login and password,” Lulla says. The name of the portal has not been finalised yet.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) unveiled its new initiative on digital empowerment called TAAI Connect. This will support member agencies to encounter the fast evolving, challenging and demanding market scenario. TAAI Connect will enable agents to have their own website, combine their website with a booking platform integrated with their GDS and ticketing, connect the website with payment gateway linked with their own bank, a corporate booking tool and a mobile application to manage bookings through smartphones and many more services. TAAI has associated with TPConnects, a Dubai based technology company for TAAI Connect which will provide all technical support and integration. Speaking at the launch in Mumbai, Sunil Kumar, President, TAAI said, “TAAI Connect is a revolutionary initiative in the area of technology offering handholding and empowering travel agencies to go digital. A lot of online companies have lost money in creating the online platform rather than running it. Here the agents do not have to invest in technology and integration that TAAI is offering. This will also be available to non-IATA travel agents and non-TAAI agents while they would have to take up membership with TAAI. We will be working with all suppliers in the industry.”  

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) inagurated its annual convention in Cape Town, South Africa on August 12. The four-day convention is themed on ‘Digitalisation – The Way Forward’. Speaking at the inaugural event, James Vos, Shadow Minister, Tourism South Africa, said, “It is a great opportunity for us to network and find out the best practices in the industry. Technology is an important part of the discussion and very relevant today. As a sector, tourism needs to become more resilient and sustainable. For every 12 international arrivals, we create one job for the domestic population. We welcomed more than 1 million conference delegates to South Africa in 2018. That shows the type of tourism infrastructure we can offer.” The association has also organised  pre- and post-familiarisation trips to two different locations – from Sun City to Johannesburg to Garden Route and Kruger National Park. This year is special for South Africa because 2018 marks the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela with year-long celebrations being organised. OTOAI has held its past conventions in Manila, Bali and Ras Al-Khaimah.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) held its biennial elections on August 11, 2018 and announced the new team for the 2018-20 period. The voting was conducted under the supervision of returning officer Harbans Singh, Retd Secretary, Election Commission. PP Khanna has been re-elected as the President, while Rajesh Arya was voted as Vice President for the association. Chetan Gupta was re-elected as General Secretary, Dalip Gupta as Treasurer and Anil K Rajput as Joint Secretary for the association.

In an aim to update its members about the 34th Annual Convention set to be held from September 6-9, 2018, IATO recently hosted a luncheon meet at Le Meridien, New Delhi. The association felicitated Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary Tourism, Andhra Pradesh and Himanshu Shukla, CEO, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority. Convention Chairman Rajeev Mehra said, “We are getting close to our desired goal in meeting the required number of professionals of the trade from various parts of the country to make our 34th Annual Convention successful.” With the utmost support of Andhra Pradesh Tourism, IATO is confident of its convention. Meena, while addressing the members, said, “We are excited to be the hosts for IATO convention as we’ve been looking forward to it since 2016. We will also be hosting post tours for the delegation of about 200 or more.”