Category Archives: Associations

J K Mohanty, Chairman – HRAO & IATO Eastern Region, has said, “The budget should provide adequate resources for the development of tourism infrastructure in the country. Further, the hospitality sector had been demanding infrastructure status for last 10 years but govt has not paid any attention to this.”

Dr Subhash Goyal (MBA, PhD), Chairman – STIC Travel Group and Member – National Tourism Advisory Council, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has been appointed as the Honorary Patron for the Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA). “His vast experience in the Global and Indian tourism industry will be a guiding force for us to further the objectives of NIMA for the betterment of our members and other stakeholders of the Indian MICE industry,” said a statement from NIMA.

Ajeet Bajaj, President, ATOAI, has said that setting up the National Board for Adventure Tourism by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, is a welcome step, “We have already had two board meetings and are gaining momentum. This inter-ministerial board with state governments’ participation will help resolve many issues pertaining to adventure tourism in India.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has shared that air travel recovery across the world continued through November 2022, with India’s domestic recovery catching up with 2019 numbers soon. “In India, domestic RPKs (Revenue Passenger Kilometers) increased by 11.1% YoY and ASKs by 0.5%. November RPKs were 12.2% short of 2019 results,” it said.

FHRAI has submitted a representation to Arvind Singh, IAS, Secretary, MoT explaining concerns faced by hotels in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh over delay in classification of 1, 2 and 3 star hotels. Pending from the last 3 to 6 months, hotels in these states that are seeking either re-classification or classification of their properties are facing hardships. With licenses having expired or being due for renewal, including that of liquor license, most hotels are not able to renew the licenses due to the delay in the classification process.

E.M. Najeeb, Senior Vice President, IATO said, “the budget allocation is tourism must increase. Most of the states are increasing their budget allocation in tourism and the central government should also increase their allocation to three times or four times in the tourism segment.” 

Ravi Gosain, Vice President, IATO said, “Inbound tourism has a lot of scope, it’s a value product compared to the domestic. It is very important to grow inbound parallelly to domestic tourism. The government should provide financial incentive and some facilitation in policies to help tourism industry grow.” 

The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India has always believed in promoting adventure tourism in a safe and sustainable manner and aims to create this awareness and mitigate risk in adventure tourism activities. ATOAI is delighted to announce that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is organizing a Disaster Management Course for ATOAI Adventure Guides. 40 adventure guides with a minimum experience of 5 years will be trained by NDRF from 30th January 2022 to 4th February 2023 at 8 Battalion, NDRF, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.   The Adventure guides will be trained on: Disaster Management Search & Rescue First Aid & CPR. Fire Safety Water Emergencies Snake & Animal Bite Group Exercise / Leadership Miscellaneous & General Topics This course will be a force multiplier in providing rescue and support during natural disasters in our country and will also up skill adventure professionals / guides in providing safer adventure experiences to adventure tourists. ATOAI believes that such initiatives will go a long way in bringing India on top of the preferred adventure tourism destinations in the world. Adventure guides doing the program will also be made honorary wardens for keeping ‘the great outdoors’ pristine and ensure that the ATOAI safety guidelines are followed in letter and spirit.

Runeep Sangha, Executive Director, PATA India Chapter said, “It’s time we have a separate strategy for India as a long-haul destination because people coming from the Americas, Canada, Europe, etc are the markets from our travelers spend the most money and if we put together and showcase India as a long-haul destination, we should report benefits.” 

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO said, “In new Foreign Trade Policy, IATO recommended that the benefit of SEIS scheme should be continued for the tour operators and travel agencies for the next 5 years.”