Tag Archives: ADTOI

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI)  recently started a new chapter for the state of Maharashtra in order to garner more strength from the western India chapter. The new team will be led by Dharmendra Singh as the chapter Chairman. Yogesh Lele is the new Secretary General and Nilesh Sharma from Nasik is the Treasurer for the new chapter. PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, said, “We welcome the new team and can be rest assured that there will be some activity and engagement from the western region of India. We will look at opening more state-wise chapters in this region so that the association has a national presence.”

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) has inaugurated its Punjab and Haryana Chapter today. Manmeet Singh, Proprietor, Sky High Tours and Travels is the new chapter chairperson, as informed by P P Khanna, President, ADTOI. In total, the chapter will comprise 20 active members and also expects another 15 to 20 members. Delhi-NCR is not going to be included in the chapter. This is exclusively for the Haryana segment. The chapter is going to get launched exclusively for the places left unexplored. It will encourage rural, village, agro based areas of the state and make people aware about unexplored places. The association will work with the government and local state tourism boards to promote these places. Khanna also plans to open the North East chapter to showcase the rural and tribal areas and promote them before the country.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) plans to inaugurate its Haryana and Punjab Chapter soon. This was informed by P P Khanna, President, ADTOI at the associations’s General House Meeting, recently conducted in Delhi. Giving a recap of the activities undertaken by the association in the last year, Khanna said, “We launched our revamped website in February 2018 which is linked with the website of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. This will prove beneficial for the members of the association for their future business prospects. We will also launch our Chapters in Haryana and Punjab which will further enhance the growth of ADTOI. We have also launched an activity manual for 2018 for the reference of members. Thus, members can plan well in advance for all association events that shall be conducted throughout the year.”

PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, said they had been looking forward to some GST relief in the Budget. “There has been no relief in GST in the Union Budget 2018-19, we had been looking forward to it. However, the budget offers some SOPs to tourism sector by announcing 10 prominent tourist sites to be developed into iconic ones and enhancing visitor experience in 110 Adarsh monuments under the ASI, with railways to have Wi-Fi and CCTV cameras on all trains and stations. Enhancement of sea plane activities and boosting aviation sector with the present 124 airports, the government plans to take this up five times to accommodate one billion trips per year. Focus on infrastructure, education, healthcare, creation of jobs has been highlighted in the budget, which is a good move.”

Rajat Sawhney, Vice President, ADTOI, says, “It’s a worldwide strategy where all the airlines are aiming at zero per cent commission to agents and Jet Airways has followed suit. It is sad and unfortunate that though bulk of the sales is generated through travel agents, there is no incentive for them to sell their products. This is probably a unique example in business where channel partners are not given any incentive to sell their products. It is high time that agents act as advisors and sell experiences. They should sell packages under their own brand name and offer bundled products with hotels, airlines tickets, transfers, visa, sightseeing and F&B etc. The agents should discourage the selling of stand-alone products which anyway would not fetch them any revenue.”

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) launched its Andhra Pradesh Chapter during its 8th Annual Convention held in Visakhapatnam recently. Vijay Mohan, Member, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority, Government of Andhra Pradesh and President of Tour and Travels Association of Andhra Pradesh, will head this chapter for the association. Rajat Sawhney, Vice President, ADTOI, said, “The membership of the association is predominantly based in North, East and West India. In the South, barring Kerala we had less presence in states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The launch of the Andhra Pradesh State Chapter of ADTOI is a maiden attempt to set its imprints and penetrate the southern parts of India for the larger benefits of the domestic tour operators.” Commenting on the targets of this newly formed state chapter of ADTOI, Mohan said “The association of tour operators of Andhra Pradesh has about 187 members. We received 12 registrations just in 24 hours. We would work towards increasing membership and are looking at approximately 50 members at the end of this financial year.”

The 8th Annual Convention of Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) held at Hotel Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach received over 300 delegates from across the country. The convention was inaugurated by Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh; Bhuma Akhila Priya, Minister of Tourism, Telugu Language and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary-Tourism and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh along with other dignitaries from the state and ADTOI. The event initially saw over 340 registrations but had to refuse many due to logistical concerns. Naidu commented, “I really appreciate the efforts of the domestic tour operators in promoting their country by bringing to forefront the unexplored jewels of India.” Priya added, “Vizag is the City of Jewels, the crown of the sunrise state—Andhra Pradesh. We are planning to make the state a favourable tourist destination by not only promotional activities but also by creating adequate infrastructure.” P.P. Khanna, President of ADTOI, shared, “The idea to hold our convention in Vizag was to identify newer destinations that domestic tour operators can add to their portfolio and promote the state of Andhra Pradesh with its wide variety of offerings from beach tourism, agritourism, ecotourism, MICE, weddings, spiritual tourism and the Buddhist circuit.”

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) will host its 8th Annual Convention-cum-Exhibition at Novotel, Varun Beach, Visakhapatnam from November 17-18, informed P P Khanna, President, ADTOI. The theme of the convention this year is ‘Domestic Tourism: Explore India – One Country, Many Worlds,’ under which the association will explore various facets of its convention venue – Visakhapatnam. Khanna says, “We are expecting over 300 delegates from across India. Through this convention, we hope to showcase the world-class facilities in Andhra Pradesh and its vast potential for domestic tourism. We will address key industry issues like GST and its impact on domestic tourism; the threat of online travel agents to the small and medium businesses and we will also deliberate on the ways the central government, state government and private players can work in collaboration to improve tourist infrastructure in the country.” Rajat Sawhney, Vice President and Convention Chairman, ADTOI, adds, “We realised that despite being a national association, we did not have a significant presence in South India. With this convention, we hope to leave an imprint in various parts of South India which will also benefit our members from the region. We also plan to start a state chapter in Andhra Pradesh soon.”

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has elected its new team with Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC, as the Chairman, who was nominated by Hotel Association of India (HAI). The Vice Chairman is Akshay Kumar, CEO, Mercury Himalayan Explorations, who was nominated by Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI). The association also created an additional position of Vice Chairman, for which they have elected Sunil Kumar R, CEO, Travel World, who was nominated by Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).  Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC Travel Group, who was nominated by Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), is the new Honorary Secretary, while Garish Oberoi, Partner, Hotel Uberoi Anand, has been declared as the Treasurer. Aashish Gupta continues as the Consulting CEO of FAITH. All the above positions have been unanimously elected by the FAITH Board.

All travel trade agencies recognised or approved by the Ministry of Tourism are required to submit their data on digital transactions on a monthly basis, positively by the 20th of every month starting August 1, 2017 to the Ministry. The Ministry of Tourism had assigned travel trade associations including IATO, TAAI, ITTA, ADTOI and ATOAI the responsibility to promote digital transactions in the tourism sector. MOT had mailed the associations on Sept 22, 2017, regarding furnishing and submission of the same to the Ministry. The MOT will consolidate the data on digital transactions in the organised sectors for review by the PMO through the Ministry of Electronics and Information & Technology.