Category Archives: Associations

Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI said that they have written to the major European consulates asking them to resolve the visa issues on priority since it has become a damper in the revival of travel. They have asked them to add any additional staff if required without any delay so that the tourism can get back. 

Gaurav Dogra, Hon. Secretary, TAAI-Northern region, has stepped down from his position to focus on his company Plan Your Holiday. Dogra has been in this position since 2017 and was the Treasurer of the chapter before that. Currently, the TAAI-NR team is headed by Neeraj Malhotra, who revealed that the term for the team will be over in 2 months and elections are due for the new team.  

PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera, said “Safety, wellness and smooth travel experiences are top of mind as needs for post-pandemic travellers.  It’s important to provide clarity in processes and deliver good customer support in the face of ever-changing circumstances. Recognition should go to all the travel and tourism staff that are enabling efficient and great travel service delivery and experiences in the face of all these challenges. We need to respect and applaud their efforts as the backbone of the industry through these challenging times.” 

Air India recently started permitting Indian travel agents to issue tickets on their Canada route. Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI said “It was an unfair decision earlier and I think they have finally realised that agents are an intergral part of the airline booking process and I’m glad that Air India has finally woken up to this. Let’s hope that Air India will continue to be proactive and will keep the agents’ fraternity involved and engaged as they go forward embarking on trying to revive Air India.”

Liz Ortiquera, Chief Executive Officer, PATA said, “Around 4.500 travellers in the Asia-Pacific region were surveyed. Among them, 97 percent of Indians considered conscious tourism important.”

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO has requested the government to remove hurdles which are creating hindrances in revival of inbound tourism to our country and also has requested to help in in getting refund of travel agents from Jet Airways. He has requested to MoCA that directives should be issued to all domestic airlines, not to make it compulsory for the travelers to do web check-in.

The recent Economic Impact Report of World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) highlighted that India’s contribution of travel and tourism for the economy of the country is expected to surpass the levels that existed before the pandemic times, registering a YOY progression of 20.7 per cent.

After a day-long workshop conducted by West Bengal Tourism for industry, a detailed ideation was undertaken with officials led by Tourism Secretary. Dr. Saumitra Mohan. A milestone and timeline-based implementation roadmap will be put in place by the joint task force for subsequent consideration by the Government of West Bengal.

Vinayak Koul, Honorary Secretary, ATOAI, has emphasized that adventure tourism is one of the niches of tourism in which 60-90 per cent money is retained in the region and goes to the local communities. To realize the vision of Responsible Tourism, he brought forth the significance of following SOPs and guidelines.

John Koldowski, Advisor, PATA, has said that in terms of International Visitor Arrivals (IVAs), Asia is predicted to become a stronger component of the market mix or the visitor mix into India and both Europe and the Americas are going to become less in a relative sense. “These markets will still generate numbers, but in a relative sense, they will be less than those of Asia,” he said.