Category Archives: Associations

Association of Domestic Tour Operators (ADTOI) has started its preparations for elections. Jyoti Kapur, President, ADTOI, has revealed that the election process has been initiated and they have also appointed the Returning Officer (RO) for managing the voting process. He said that Harbans Singh, Retired Secretary, Election Commission of India, has been appointed as the RO. While he did not reveal the election date, he said that they will be sending the notice for the same to the General House next week.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Northern Region members are going to Colombo, Sri Lanka from July 8-11, 2016, for their monthly meeting, reveals Rajan Sehgal, President, TAAI-NR. “We are taking a total of 60 members from the Northern Region to Colombo, Sri Lanka, for our monthly meeting. We will be meeting the hotel associations as well as the Sri Lanka Tourism Board to educate our members about the destination. This will be followed by an excursion to casinos and other attractions in the city,” he said.

Bharat Dev of Dev Travel has been elected unopposed as the new Chairman of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) Chhattisgarh Chapter. His nomination was proposed by the outgoing team of the chapter. In addition, Raman Jadhwani of Ajay Travels is the new Secretary of TAFI Chhattisgarh Chapter.

In a first, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has partnered with State Government to set up separate tourism bureaus for Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati. Besides tourism promotion, CII wanted to play a facilitator’s role to woo investments in industries, IT and promote MSME and skill development in a big way in AP post-bifurcation. This figured prominently at the strategy session of CII to finalise its roadmap for 2016-17. CII-AP chairman G.S. Shiv Kumar and vice-chairman J.S.R.K. Prasad told reporters on Saturday. CII committee on tourism convener Neeraj Sarda said the first bureau would be set up for promoting tourism in Visakhapatnam in September. He said a comprehensive website would be created by involving all the stakeholders in the bureau to woo investors and facilitate development of a complete ecosystem. Sarda said building brand image for Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati was their top priority. A CII team comprising Shiv Kumar and Sarda recently visited Puducherry to find out the reasons for their success story.

After examining the nominations that were received by the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) Secretariat in Mumbai, a list of names have been announced of those who have been elected unopposed and those who will be contesting the elections on June 30 at Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad. These are: A. Basheer Ahmed, Rajat Bagaria, Urvashi Dogra, A Satheesh Hegde, Bharat Shah, Darshan Shah, and Jyoti Singh. The Secretariat has received seven applications for five posts for the Managing Committee Member. Pradip Lulla, the newly-elected Vice President, TAFI, said, “Since we have received more applications for the Managing Committee Members than the posts, we will have elections as planned unless there are withdrawals. We will know this only on June 20 which is the last date for withdrawal and decide whether we will need to have elections or not.”

Jayesh Tharani of Hopco Travels has been elected unopposed as Treasurer of TAFI. His nomination was proposed by Shoiz International Travel Services and seconded by Tulsidas Khimji Holidays. After examining the nominations that were received by the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) Secretariat in Mumbai, a list of names have been announced of those who have been elected unopposed and those who will be contesting the elections on June 30 at Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad. All four Office Bearers for the national team have been nominated unopposed, including Jayesh Tharani as TAFI’s new Treasurer.

Aditi Bhende of Aarohan Tours & Travels is the new National General Secretary of TAFI. Her nomination was proposed by Ashok Travel World and seconded by Kass Travels. She was elected unopposed to the post. She earlier held the post of TAFI Treasurer. After examining the nominations that were received by the TAFI Secretariat in Mumbai, a list of names have been announced of those who have been elected unopposed and those who will be contesting the elections on June 30 at Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad.

Pradip Lulla of Cupid Travel & Tours has been elected unopposed as the Vice President of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). His nomination was proposed by Trust Travel & Tours and seconded by Shrishti Tours & Travels. He earlier held the post of General Secretary, TAFI. The last date for receiving nominations for TAFI national elections for 2016 was 1700 hours on June 15, 2016. After examining the nominations that were received by the TAFI Secretariat in Mumbai, a list of names have been announced of those who have been elected unopposed and those who will be contesting the elections on June 30 at Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad.

Praveen Chugh of Business Travels has been elected unopposed to the post of President of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). His nomination was proposed by Sheraton Travels and seconded by Golden Phoenix Travel. The last date for receiving nominations for this year’s TAFI national elections, held biennially,  was 1700 hours on June 15, 2016. He previously held the post of Vice President, TAFI. After examining the nominations that were received by the TAFI Secretariat in Mumbai, a list of names have been announced of those who have been elected unopposed and those who will be contesting the elections on June 30 at Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad. Rajat Bagaria, previous Member of TAFI National Managing Committee, said, “Zakkir Ahmed will now be the Immediate Past President of TAFI. He has been our President for two continuous terms that is four years and will continue to be part of the MC meetings.”

Sunil Kumar, President of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has revealed that the association has met and proposed to the Ministry of Tourism in Delhi to create a specialist programme for India for its inbound and domestic tour operator members. He said, “We have suggested to the MOT to create a programme called ‘India Specialist’ for our members like we have done for other countries like Turkey and South Africa. We have spoken to the Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi about this. We will send a detailed white paper proposal to the ministry and expect an agreement and confirmation to follow once the government has approved the programme. Since TAAI is the only travel trade association with 20 regional units with over 2300 members, we will be able to train around 2,000 agents and operators at one go. We want to launch this in a few months as government procedures take time. We have to set up the curriculum for this and invite the MoT to extend their blessings to us and certify this programme.” He added that TAAI will launch this in phases.