Category Archives: Associations

Himanshu Talwar, Assistant Secretary General, FHRAI, has been given the additional responsibility as the Additional Director at FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management (FIHM), Greater Noida. Management of FHRAI has bestowed the new responsibility on Talwar, where he will be working under the guidance of the Secretary General, FHRAI.

TAAI has recently concluded its AGM virtually, which saw its national team, heads and ECs state and region chapters, as well as members in presence, revealed Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI. “We completed first year of our 2019-21 tenure. Our team was appreciated for its hard work. Now, we are working on our way forward. We had also invited Aashish Gupta, Consulting CEO, FAITH and we had a detailed dialogue with the office bearers and the Management Committee, and regional chapter teams, who gave their inputs on how they want TAAI to be a futuristic organisation,” she said.

IATO, in association with TravTalk , will host a webinar titled ‘Website Secrets Revealed’ on January 8, 11:30 am onwards. During the session, Digital Marketing Specialist Gaurav Gurbaxani will educate attendees on the most common mistakes to avoid in developing a website. To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91-9650196532.

India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2021 will be held from 18th – 20th February. The event will be mostly virtual, and some part of it will be hybrid. Subhash Goyal, Secretary-General, FAITH, revealed, “This year’s ITM will be slightly hybrid, but 90% virtual. We are expecting around 500 international buyers and around 100-200 domestic buyers.”

Baywatch Travels has launched curated sailing experience brand Baywatch Sailzz. Manish Kriplani, MD, Baywatch Travels, announced the new venture, saying, “Baywatch Sailzz is our answer to fresh outdoor experiences, where we offer curated sailing experiences for birthday, dinner, sunrise, sunset cruise and other celebrations. We have our international medallist skipper Chinna Reddy who will assist with the entire experience around Chennai Harbour and the Bay of Bengal.”

Sunil Kumar, President, UFTAA, has said that the association has initiated a concept of Zero Risk with IATA that can protect the agents and airlines from any future risk to either parties. “The current scenario has reflected our unpreparedness to protect the monies of the stakeholders and the customers, owing to the challenges the agencies had to go through. In an evolving scenario, it is time that such a Zero Risk to either of the stakeholders is envisioned through IATA’s governing resolution and we be better prepared to handle such crisis, if it would ever come up in future,” he says. Towards this, all Global Federations of Associations which are part of IATA’s PAPGJC have come together and a working group is getting created with terms of reference of the committee meeting the expectations of all. “This working group will involve representatives of airlines, agency associations, and IATA. This is anticipated to be finalised by January and thereupon the working group can deliberate to plan a great legacy for the future which does not pose any risk or threat to our customers or agencies. We eagerly look forward to this working group to be able to come up with a favourable solution for the industry and its stake holders,” Kumar adds.

TAFI is preparing to hold its elections in January 2021. Pradip Lulla, Acting President & VP, TAFI, says, “We will first hold all our chapter elections followed by our national elections around mid-January. While chapter elections could be held physically, the national committee election could either be virtual or through postal ballot.”

The Board of Enterprising Travel Agent’s Association (ETAA) has decided to waive the annual membership fee for Financial Year 2020-2021. Members who have paid membership fee for three years, valid till March 2021, will get an extension till March 2022. This was announced at ETAA’s virtual AGM on December 18.

Reuniting together, the members of Enterprising Knot of Travel & Tourism Associates (EKTTA) attended a workshop on ‘Facing the new normal’ at the State Convention Center (Lok Seva Bhavan) in Bhubaneswar. The workshop was organised by Odisha Tourism in association with Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.  

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), in its recent interactive meeting of members, discussed the highlights of the revised guidelines for tourism service providers by MOT. The virtual event saw members discussing the new criteria and their issues with it, including categorisation of tour operators in five categories, inclusion of green shoots/start-ups, MDA scheme eligibility, etc. The EC clarified members’ queries and looks at taking the same to MOT.