Category Archives: Associations

Subhash Goyal, President, Confederation of Tourism Professionals, has said that the Government should announce immediately E-Tourist Visa and Scheduled International flights in the month of September/October. “The Tourist season to India is from October to March. While domestic tourism is helping a few hotels but people like Govt. recognized Tourist Guides, Tourist Transport Operators, Tourist Taxi Drivers pan India and small Tour Operators and Vendors are starving. We have to fulfil our Prime Minister’s dream of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy,” he said.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has submitted a representation to the CEO of NITI Aayog – Amitabh Kant – highlighting hospitality industry’s plight with reference to Oyo’s business model. The Association has specifically pointed out that certain recent activities conducted by Oyo to earn goodwill have actually come at the expense of partner hotels.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, will be addressing the 10th PATA and MOT Update & Outlook Meeting on 20th July at 12pm. He will be sharing the steps and initiatives by MOT with the PATA Members and the larger tourism fraternity in this meeting. Register on https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EYIAfgQRRFSMGGpL-zamhQ.

Members of the IATO’s UP Chapter and officials of IndiaTourism of Uttar Pradesh recently met to discuss various issues related to the revival of domestic tourism keeping in view pandemic in Varanasi and adjoining districts. The meeting, led by chapter chairman Prateek Hira, involved preparing a roadmap for the revival of domestic tourism in the region.  

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) will finally hold its much-delayed national elections on July 24, 2021 via e-voting conducted on the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) platform. The following nine posts are open for election: President, Vice President, National General Secretary, Treasurer and five posts for Managing Committee Members.

In his discussion with the MOT, PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, has requested for inclusion of hotel charges in the MDA scheme for domestic tour operators. “The draft mentioned that for digital marketing or attending marts across India, this money would include cost of hotels, but in the final draft hotels were not included. Hence, we have requested the ADG to include hotels,” he said.

In its latest survey that talks about travel trends, IATA reveals that 85% respondents say they will not travel if there is a chance of quarantine at the destination. The survey also reveals that travellers, though keen, are still willing to wait at least a month or two before resuming travel.

A number of FAITH association heads met with the new Cabinet Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy and welcomed him on his taking over the charge in his office. The delegation comprised of Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH; Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO & Hony. Secretary FAITH, Jyoti Mayal,  President, TAAI & Vice Chairman FAITH, P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI & Board Member FAITH; and Ravi Gosain, Vice President, IATO. Members of the delegation assured full support to the Minister for the revival of tourism and sought similar support from him. The Minister assured all his support to the industry.

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that by appointing three ministers for tourism (including one cabinet minister) and three ministers for culture, the Prime Minister has given a heavy weight focus to tourism. “We always had a lot of expectations from MOT, but now being given a cabinet berth, we expect much more and quicker decisions to take place. This is because the Government is looking at tourism as the industry, which would quickly revive the economy. Else, the PM wouldn’t have put so much of manpower into it,” she said.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that the national strategy and roadmap for sustainable tourism would involve a certification scheme, which would initially cover accommodations and tour operators based on sustainability criteria of India, which can later be extended to destinations and other industry stakeholders as well. “We will also work with industry, states and NGOs on information education and communication campaigns amongst the stakeholders about sustainable tourism and also the adverse environmental impact of tourism in certain parts of the country. There will also be an effort to do a state assessment and ranking, which we have seen to be successful in certain aspects of national priorities. This will be a key strategy to motivate states to adopt sustainability in tourism and it will be used to identify the status of various initiatives in the states and build their capacity and future roadmap towards better sustainable practice tourism,” he added.