Category Archives: Associations

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, has thanked the MOT and MoCA for reinstating the Commercial Airport Entry Airport Pass (AEP) for recognized tour operators and hotels. “We have been trying for a long time and now the orders have finally come. Now, at least when the borders open, our members can apply for airports passes in the same manner as they used to earlier, except there has been some capping on the number of passes available, for which we were given indication two years back, when the airport passes were being suspended,” he said.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has submitted a representation to the Maharashtra Government requesting for an immediate rollback of the 15 per cent hike in the Excise Licence Fee for FY 2022-23. Citing the unpredictable nature of restrictions and other measures that may come into effect, if and when another pandemic wave breaks out, the Association has also requested that the Government offers a 50 per cent waiver on the fee for FY 2022-23. “Through the last two years, restaurants continued paying for salaries, property taxes, statutory fees, electricity, water and other overheads. However, license holders were unable to carry out the business due to the restrictions imposed by the State. The restaurant industry was severely affected with none to low footfalls. In the pre-pandemic days, the industry did not flinch while paying the excise licence fees but today, it is a different story,” concludes Mr Pradeep Shetty, Sr. Vice President, HRAWI. 

Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has formed seven committees intending to involve more members in leadership roles in TAFI’s activities. The Educational & Communication Committee that produces TAFI fortnightly has tied up with Marriott Hotels and is encouraging its members to sign up for Marriott Hotels Excellence programme. Sensitive and Sustainable Tourism is another thrust area for TAFI, said Ajay Prakash, president, TAFI. The committee is organizing a session on  Sustainable Tourism for its members and training will be imparted to the frontline staff to improve their competence in day-to-day operations. 

Rajnish Kaistha, Hony. Secretary, IATO, has said that the allocation for tourism budget for overseas promotions have been reduced, which in turn would affect the inbound business, especially when the borders open. “Government needs to allocate higher budgets for overseas promotion, publicity and marketing, along with MDA, because that is needed for our survival. The MDA gives us money to go and participate in the overseas trade shows and promotions abroad so that we get more tourists to start with and also do overseas marketing in an aggressive manner, for which higher budgets are needed. Any reduction in that is going to cause bigger damage in the long run and in the immediate future,” he says.

KB Kachru, Chairman Emeritus & Principal Advisor, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group & VP, HAI about the growth plans for RHG, shared, “Our resort and overall getaway locations are doing well because of domestic tourists. In the last two years domestic tourism has been a huge opportunity. We are growing at the rate of almost one hotel a month, both in opening and signing new deals.”

As the Travel & Tourism sector begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, its contribution to the global economy could reach $8.6 trillion this year, according to a study by the World Travel and Tourism Council. Prior to the pandemic, the Travel & Tourism sector generated nearly $9.2 trillion to the global economy in 2019. However, in 2020, the pandemic killed the sector, causing a massive 49.1% drop, representing a loss of nearly $4.5 trillion. 

Secretary Tourism, Arvind Singh had called for a virtual meeting with the Associations and industry stakeholders to discuss and develop “India Vision @ 2047” for the tourism industry. Ajay Prakash, TAFI President gave his inputs and suggested that generating 100 million tourists would require a new mindset among all stakeholders – from luxury hotels and tour operators to the taxi drivers, guides and all other segments of the trade.

Asia is predicted to return to a significant level of dominance, supplying more than 64% of all IVAs into Asia Pacific in 2024, under each of the three scenarios, followed by the Americas and Europe. Overall, while the trends in these latest forecasts are positive, there are still challenges ahead, not the least of which will be containing the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19. As PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera notes, “International travel recovery to and within the Asia Pacific region is projected to return moderately over the next three years. Recovery will be uneven into the various sub-regions and destinations and will most likely still remain volatile over the next few years. Some individual destinations may see success but expedited recovery of the region requires a more collaborative approach.” 

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO has thanked Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO and the entire team at The Indian Hotels Company Ltd. for rolling out the Taj Hotels Promo Code Special Rates for IATO Members. In a statement, he has revealed that each member has been given a Unique Agency Code and booking can be done on line without any hindrances.  Promo Code Special Rates are exclusively for inbound business only and not valid for domestic leisure and are only for FITs.

Global tourism experienced a 4% upturn in 2021, compared to 2020 (415 million versus 400 million). However, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) were still 72% below the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to preliminary estimates by UNWTO. This follows on from 2020, the worst year on record for tourism, when international arrivals decreased by 73%.