Category Archives: Associations

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.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) announced the host property for its annual convention- Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. Rajat Sawhney, Vice President, ADTOI, is the Chairman for the convention, while Dalip Gupta, Hony. Joint Secretary, ADTOI will be the co-Chairman for the convention, which is scheduled for Nov 17-19, 2017. While the convention hotel is finalised, ADTOI is currently in talks with other hotels in Vizag as well as with airlines to come up with final packages for the delegates.  

The IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) will conduct its national convention – ICON 2017 – from September 14-17, 2017 at the picturesque Cherai Beach located 25 km from Kochi City. It will be held as a three nights-four days event with the theme ‘Travel Agents by 2030 – Protocols Redefined’. Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, says, “As travel agents are just coming to grips with the newly implemented GST, it will form one of the prime issues for discussion since airline commission is going to be crucial for their survival. The additional BSP charge of US$30 per month imposed by IATA since April 2017 has come at a time when airlines are still denying commission to their own appointed travel agents. As implied by the ICON 2017 Theme, IAAI is all set to launch ‘i-Top’ (Indian Travel-Agents Own Portal), a new revenue model that would safeguard the interests of its members from all the present challenging market conditions.”

India has bagged awards in three categories at the PATA Gold Awards 2017 scheduled to take place in Macao SAR on September 15 during PATA Travel Mart 2017. The Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India will be honoured under the Marketing Media – Travel Advertisement Print Media category for its Go Beyond project, while Kerala Tourism has secured an award for Marketing Media – Consumer Travel Brochure on Film Tourism. Travel provider Cox & Kings is the other winner for its Social Media marketing project Forever Young. Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, said, “On behalf of PATA, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to all 2017 Grand and Gold Award winners. This is no better time and place to celebrate their accomplishments, than this International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in Macao SAR during the 40th Anniversary of PATA Travel Mart. I look forward to celebrating this year’s winners who represent the values of the Association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.”

Addressing the UFTAA 2017 Mid-Year Forum in City of Salerno, Italy, Sunil Kumar R, President, UFTAA, revealed that the organisation is going to come up with a global tourism office in Istanbul by later next month. “UFTAA Global Tourism Office at Istanbul is a new initiative of UFTAA. At the previous world congress of UFTAA held in Istanbul, we did confirm that UFTAA apart from travel matters will embark on tourism, MICE and education in a big way and try to create more opportunities in this area. In terms of tourism, a big initiative has been declared by the UFTAA Board of Directors for establishing the UFTAA global tourism office in Istanbul, which will be manned professionally connecting travel professionals all over the world, encouraging B2B activities, encouraging business exchange between UFTAA associations and UFTAA affiliates.  We are confident that this UFTAA tourism office will also come up with certain systems where we could gift our members certain credibility and status so that when someone sells tourism online, there is a certification from UFTAA which supports such agencies. However, this is a long-term goal. We first need to get members on board, keep the membership active and hope that UFTAA gets new members from different countries around the world,” adds Kumar. He further informed that UFTAA is in talks with the new Secretary General of UNWTO to inaugurate the new office sometime later next month. He says that due to the Qatar crisis, the work on the UFTAA Global headquarters has been kept on the back burner and hopefully there will be a headway on the same very soon.

The Maharashtra Chapter of the IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) recently conducted its Annual General Meeting in Mumbai. The AGM unequivocally declared that the present day maladies being faced by the travel agents fraternity were set off by the downfall of the national carrier that started in 2004 and was eventually hastened from end-2008 when Air India implemented zero commission (within India) to please the Star Alliance Group. Biji Eapen, National President, IAAI, said, “The AGM has unanimously decided to demand five per cent commission on gross fare and in turn, the entire travel agent community will wholeheartedly support Air India to regain its name and brand. The AGM collectively looks forward to Air India reversing its anti-travel agent policies and becoming a role model. Air India can only ensure the operation of a flight from one airport to another. But the aircraft seats have to be filled by the traditional travel agents only, as Air India’s web sale volume is marginal. Under the new GST regime, agents can survive only with the commissions as mandated by IATA Resolution 824 (Para 9) and the DGCA Order of March 5, 2010. It will be suicidal to depend on service charges as it may have to be separately invoiced.”

  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.

PATA India has partnered with Amity Institute of Travel & Tourism, Amity University, to conducted two training programmes in August and September. “We are confident that Amity University will bring required professionalism in our efforts to provide relevant training to our members and their employees. We propose to hold the following training in August & September, 2017,” said Runeep Sangha, Executive Director, PATA India chapter. The first training session on ‘Hiring for Success’ aims to help small business owners, senior managers & HR managers in their efforts to hire quality resources to deliver the organisations goals and objective. The curriculum of this training program will emphasis on building a job description and specification, role and responsibility, sourcing Identifying candidates through web sources, short listing/screening applicants, interview process, etc. The program will be held on August 25, 2017, at The Claridges Hotel, New Delh from 10 am to 6 pm. The subsequent training session on ‘Optimisation of Social Media in Tourism & Hospitality,’ aimed at supporting the business development efforts of Sales/Marketing Managers, Product Managers and Business Owners, covering related subjects will be held in September, date for which will be announced shortly.

Travel Agents Association of India- Northern Region has elected Neeraj Malhotra, Co-founder and CEO, Ganpati Travels, as its new Chairman, while Gaurav Dogra, Founder, Plan Your Holiday, is the new Honorary Secretary. Gurdevinder Singh of Bhagwant Travel and Tours has been elected for the position of Treasurer for 2017-19. Malhotra said, “I am thankful to the team of TAAI-NR for their support and faith in me. Going forward, our first agenda is to consolidate the members and also focus on increasing membership during our term. Since our industry is going through tough times with the implementation of GST, we will be conducting various knowledge sessions to address and explain to the members how they can work under this regime. Also in collaboration with various organisations like PHD Chamber of Commerce and CII, we will be holding education seminars for our members to increase the information quotient. We are also looking at offering value additions to our members like education conferences abroad, more familiarisation trips to learn about new destinations and sell them to increase their revenue arm.” TAAI Northern Region also plans to partner with multiple tourism boards to conduct learning sessions for its members.

International tourist arrivals worldwide grew by 6 per cent in January-April of 2017 compared to the same period last year, with business confidence reaching its highest levels in a decade. Destinations worldwide received 369 million international tourists (overnight visitors) in the first four months of the year, 21 million more than in the same months of 2016 (+6%), according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. International arrivals reported by destinations around the world were positive overall, with very few exceptions. Most of 2016’s strong performers maintained momentum, while destinations that struggled in previous years continued to rebound in the first part of 2017. This is especially reflected in the better results of the Middle East (+10%), Africa (+8%) and Europe (+6%). Asia and the Pacific (6%) and the Americas (+4%) continued to enjoy robust growth. “Destinations that were affected by negative events during 2016 are showing clear signs of recovery in a very short period of time, and this is very welcoming news for all, but particularly for those whose livelihoods depend on tourism in these destinations”, said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “As we celebrate 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, we welcome the continued development of tourism and recall that with growth comes increased responsibility to ensure tourism can contribute to sustainability in all its three pillars – economic, social and environmental. Growth is never the enemy and it is our responsibility to manage it in a sustainable manner,” he added. Regional Results: International arrivals in Europe (+6%) rebounded in January-April after mixed results last year, as confidence returned to some destinations that were impacted by security incidents, while others continued to grow strongly. …