Category Archives: Associations

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, joined prominent tourism voices to discuss transition in travel. She said, “I see travel and tourism as the Guardians of Nature. I see us as being able to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gasses.” The forum continues to collaborate with key industry representatives to drive sustainable action in the tourism space.  

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is set to organise PATA Travel Mart 2023 in New Delhi, India from October 4-6. The event will be hosted by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. India is proving to be an important market in the recovery of travel and tourism within the Asia Pacific region and with its many initiatives in sustainable and inclusive tourism activities, it has the potential to become a preferred tourism destination. 

PATA research titled Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2023-2025 has revealed that travels within AsiaPacific will continue to dominate in the region. International Visitor Arrivals in Asia-Pacific will return to roughly similar 2019 proportions (82.09%) by 2025 (82.38% in a medium scenario).

Jitul Mehta, Chairman, Western India Chapter, TAFI, says, “TAFI is focusing a lot on domestic and Inbound tourist, as it is a good way to generate revenue for our members. There are lot of new domestic destinations and products training sessions in the pipeline. We recently showcased the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai to our members where they took a tour and learnt about the history of cinema.”  

Julia Simpson, President & CEO WTTC said, “Putting women on centre stage of Travel & Tourism will ensure a better future for the sector. One of the major barriers to improving gender diversity is the lack of insightful and robust data in the public domain. Companies need to hold themselves accountable to guarantee progress is made over time.” 

Despite having a natural geographical advantage, Indian airports have, to date, not been able to realise the opportunity that exists, according to CAPA India. According to its research, for years India has ceded traffic to offshore hubs. In fact, over the last couple of decades, there has been a structural evolution from hubs to mega-hubs, particularly in the Middle East, supported by world class airlines with large widebody fleets. It will discuss this and more at its research briefing on ‘Prospects for airport hubs in India’ at 4pm IST today.

We are pleased to announce the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the St. Petersburg Convention Bureau. This is a step forward after we had a similar agreement with the Moscow City Tourism Corporation, where we agreed to promote Russia as a MICE-friendly destination for all of the movement coming from India. This is a bilateral movement because this understanding will promote MICE both within and outside of India. And Russia is looking for increased participation from Indian stakeholders because, given the current geopolitical situation in the world, India is Russia’s preferred source market. Similarly, as inbound tourists to our country, Russians have always been preferred. 

Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI, has said that the TCS being increased to 20% will hamper our business and at the same time there is going to be a huge deficiency in government revenue as people would prefer to either book through foreign tour operators or foreign OTAs to save GST and TCS both. “At present as well, outbound tour operators and government of India is losing revenue on the same grounds,” he added. 

The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) in collaboration with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) organized a six-day Disaster Management Course from 30th January 2022 to 4th February 2023 at 8 Battalion, NDRF, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh for adventure guides. The adventure guides from across the country successfully completed the 6-day course on Disaster Management, Search & Rescue, First Aid & CPR, Fire Safety, Water Emergencies, Snake & Animal Bites, Group Exercises / Leadership, communication skills and related topics. The adventure guides were awarded certificates on completion of the course by Commandant Praveen Kumar Tiwary, Commandant 8th Battalion NDRF. The adventure guides were also made honorary wardens for keeping ‘the great outdoors’ pristine and to ensure that ATOAI safety guidelines are followed in letter and spirit. Commandant Praveen Kumar Tiwary says “NDRF is known for its professional acumen in the field of disaster response and rescue operations. This course is going to be a force multiplier for the participants. The people associated with adventure sports are passionate and having tremendous set of skills. This course is certainly going to help them in their future endeavours. The training imparted in this course will enable them to respond effectively in trying times”. Speaking to the adventure guides at NDRF Mr. Ajeet Bajaj, President, ATOAI said “ATOAI has always endeavoured to be a ‘Force for Good’ for our country and tried to pitch in during natural disasters. This is the value system ATOAI stands for and these training sessions will enable adventure guides who are trained professionals and spread across the country, to be force multipliers for rescue and support during natural disasters. This will also up-skill adventure professionals/ guides in providing …

In the Union Budget 2023, it was announced that the government has increased Tax Collection at Source (TCS) for overseas packages from 5%to 20%. Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI, says that instead of reducing the TCS, it has been increased and it will hamper the business. Rajeev Sabharwal  (CA), Chief Executive, Gaurav Travels, says outbound industry should oppose this move.