Category Archives: Associations

The 2nd edition of the PATA India Tourism PowerHouse, presented by the Inder Sharma Foundation will be held on December 6 at The PARK, New Delhi. Participants will get the opportunity to network, learn and interact with knowledge leaders and industry stalwarts and participate in engaging discussions on aviation capacity to India, impact of tourism, digital and destination marketing, The China opportunity and more.

Suman Billa will be joining United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) as Director, Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Development and will be based at the UNWTO headquarters in Spain, Madrid starting December. He had been serving as the Joint Secretary at Ministry of Tourism (MOT) for the last five years. He has also been the Tourism Secretary for Kerala before. A 1996 batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Billa would be assuming charge at UNWTO next week and will be posted there for an initial period of two years. He has joined at D1 Level.

The Travel Agents Association of India has received the nominations for the election of its new Managing Committee (2019-20). Jyoti Mayal from New Airways Travels and Sanjay Narula from Apex Travel and Tours have filed nominations for the position of President. However, Jay Bhatia from Tulsidas Khimji Holidays is unopposed for the position of Vice-President. For the position of Secretary General, valid nominations have been received from P. Sarvanan of Viking Tours & Travels and Bettaiah Lokesh of Triway Travels. For Hon. Secretary General, valid nominations have come from Devaki Thiyagarajan of Avocet Tours & Travels; Imtoaz Qureshi of Viceroy Travels and Shreeram Patel of Unicorn Travels.  

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) is all set to elect its new Managing Committee (MC) for the term 2019-20 on November 28, 2019 at their 68th Annual General Meeting at Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai. According to a circular, released by TAAI, the last date for filing nominations is November 14, and the nominations can be withdrawn by November 25, 2019, after which the final nominees will be announced.

Skål International India has opened its 14th Club under the name of Skål International Mysuru in the City of Palaces. Suresh Charles has been appointed as the President, Prashanth B is the Vice President and Sunaina Manerker as Secretary of Skål International Mysuru. Skal International Mysuru has been formed with 22 members, which consists of hoteliers, airlines, travel and tour operators, hotel management institutions and government agencies from Mysuru and surrounding areas of Coorg, Bandipur and Kabini. The Charter Night was hosted by The Grand Mercure Mysuru, where the Charter Document was handed over by Vijay Mohan Raj -Director -Skål International, Sanjay Datta – President Skål Asia and Ranjini Nambiar – President Skål International India. She also delivered the Presidential Chain & the Oath to newly elected Club President Suresh Charles. Sanjay Datta – President Skål Asia, also presented a Skål Asia standee and flag to Skål Mysuru, for display at all their meetings.

Data from the Annual Travel Monitor 2019 Final Edition (ATM) released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) last month shows that Asia continued to dominate the supply of international visitor arrival numbers (IVAs) into Asia Pacific in 2018, generating close to 63% of the 696.5 million IVAs into the region. In percentage growth terms between 2017 and 2018, Africa outbound into Asia Pacific had the strongest annual increase at over 13% year-on-year, followed by Europe at almost 11% and then Asia at 7.3%. The nondescript ‘Others’ category increased by 7.5% in 2018, year-on-year.

PATA India Chapter is organising its 8th Update and Outlook Meeting on 21 November which will have Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism who will update the attendees on the initiatives and achievements of the Ministry and will also talk about India Tourism’s advanced website, and what it can do for the members’ and attendees’ business development efforts. The event will be held at Taj Palace, New Delhi. DG Tourism will also share details on MOT’s online Tourism Education & Tourist facilitator/guide program, and how it can be used for building a tourism friendly approach. Sharma would be updating on the progress and impact of Adopt a heritage program by MOT, and how it benefits PATA India Chapter members and the tourist. In addition, she will be taking up queries of the attendees. To confirm participation for the meeting, write to manager@pataindia.org latest by November 15, 2019.

According to the Annual Travel Monitor 2019 Final Edition (ATM) released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), over the five years between 2014 and 2018, the 46 Asia Pacific destinations covered in the report have collectively seen their International Visitor Arrivals (IVAs) increase by almost 24%, adding more than 136 million additional arrivals to the collective foreign inbound count in the process.

PATA India Chapter will organise the second edition of its Tourism Powerhouse on December 6, which will see a variety of speakers from the travel industry in India and abroad, revealed Runeep Sangha, Executive Director, PATA India Chapter. He adds, “The theme of the event is ‘The Big Leap Forward’ and the speakers at the Tourism Powerhouse will be sharing their experiences and suggestions to accelerate growth.”

Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Director, Pritam Hotels has been re-elected as the President of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) at its 69th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Mumbai. Kohli has been serving in the office as its President for the year 2018–19 and will now continue to serve in the same capacity. He is also the Vice President of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). Mr. Sherry Bhatia will serve as the Sr. Vice President along with Mr. Pradeep Shetty as the Vice President. Mr. Nirav Gandhi has been appointed as the Honorary Secretary and Mr. Chetan Mehta will act as the Joint Honorary Secretary. Mr. Dilip Kothari will continue in the office as the Honorary Treasurer and Mr. Aspi Nallaseth as Secretary General. “I wish to thank the members for placing their trust in me and re-electing me to the office for a second term and also welcome the newly elected members to the committee. The last year was a challenging phase for the industry with the OTAs and the FSAs infringing on hoteliers’ and restaurateurs’ businesses. With the support of our members and the HRAWI team, we not only were successful in keeping a check on their callous activities but we also brought the entire country together for voicing out against the erring entities. We are determined about pursuing this matter to its equitable and fair conclusion. In the meanwhile, we will continue working inclusively with the Government for creating a favorable environment for the growth of hospitality and tourism in the country,” says Mr Kohli. A second generation hotelier, Mr Kohli is the owner of Dadar’s famous Pritam restaurant, …