Tag Archives: ADTOI

In a bid to prepare its members for the new Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India(ADTOI) organised a workshop for its members on July 1, 2017. The workshop was conducted at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. G. D. Lohani, Commissioner, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC); Shikhar Pant, Assistant commissioner, CBEC; Ashish Gupta, Consulting CEO, FAITH; Gyan Bhushan, Economic Advisor, Government of India and other officials from Ministry of Tourism were present during  the meeting to interact with the members and  answer their queries on GST.

Association Of Domestic Tour Operators Of India (ADTOI) held its by-elections recently and has elected Rajesh Arya of India International Tours & Travels as its new Treasurer and Dalip Gupta of DGS Travel House as the Joint Secretary. The by-elections were held after the resignation of Kamal Gandhi  and Debashis Dey from the above posts respectively.

According to the GST Council, there will be 5 per cent GST on tours, said P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI. However, he added that it is not clear whether this rate is applicable on value addition or gross amount. “In a way, the 5 per cent rate is good as we were already paying 4.5 per cent tax on the packages, and it is only 0.5 per cent more than that, which is tolerable. The service tax amendment of 9 per cent tax was more cumbersome for us, as applying for CENVAT credit was an issue, especially with small tour operators and small hotels not being systematic in generating proper invoices in our country. I think the government has taken special consideration for tour operators, as this process was difficult for us,” he shared.

P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI, says, “The Union Budget didn’t directly focus on tourism, but was more directed at the rural sector, youth and infrastructure. However, there was a mention of the Global Incredible India campaign. Also, the proposal of developing India International Institutes for foreign languages would really benefit the tourism industry, and would offer employment to almost 1 lakh students graduating from these institutes every year. The dedication towards Clean India and Skill India would also result in a boost to tourism and creating employment in this sector, and boosting domestic tourism.” He highlighted another positive which is the waiving off of Service Charge on IRCTC bookings. “The focus on rural tourism might lead to better infrastructure and education in these areas, which in turn would help bring tourists to these areas as well. However, the effect of all these things would only be seen in three to five years.”

After launching its Rajasthan chapter, ADTOI is all set to launch its Punjab and Haryana chapter in the first week of March, revealed P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI. While more new chapters are on cards, Khanna revealed that the biggest concern for them right now is service tax and help its members sail through this crisis.

While this ruling will affect tour operators’ business, there is still confusion over if the increase on service tax would be 6 per cent or 9 per cent. P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI, says, “We have called a meeting on the same. I feel that with this announcement, the government is preparing us for the GST. There is already a big load on tour operators, as we are competing with OTAs. We know that tour operators come to be a bit costlier because they are already paying service tax, which is not the case with OTAs. Now, with the new tax regime, it would be another blow to our businesses. We only survive on relationships we build up with our customers and their loyalty. However, with more price hikes, we would sure lose out on our business. On one hand, the government wants to increase the employment and revenue in tourism, on the other hand, it is heavily taxing the tour operators.”

Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) will inaugurate its Rajasthan Chapter in Jaipur on December 10. Mahender Singh, Director, K K Holidays N Vacations, has been appointed the Chairperson, informed P. P. Khanna, President, ADTOI at the General House Meeting of the association. He said, “This is being coordinated with India Travel Mart-Jaipur 2016 which is being held from December 9-11. The ADTOI website is under construction and we will be launching the same around next month in order to improve connectivity between association members, the Ministry of Tourism and state tourism bodies. We are also in talks with various state tourism bodies to organise specialised programs for the members and are trying to reach out to the remotest corners of places like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to introduce our members to newer destinations and allow them to sell the products better.” Akshay Kumar, President, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) was also present at the meeting. Khanna informed, “We are trying to collaborate with various associations in order to explore sectors that have not been focused upon till now like adventure travel”. He also added that that the association was joined with 30 members during Sept-Nov and more members are being enlisted in the organisation.

P.P. Khanna, President, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI) and Rajat Sawhney, VP, ADTOI, recently met with Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary (Tourism & Culture) Govt. of Maharashtra, to discuss about the possibilities of organising ADTOI convention in the state. This was revealed during the ADTOI General House Meeting held in New Delhi. Both sides are listing out the deliverables to take the proposal forward, said Khanna. ADTOI also announced the formation of its various committees and the names of members who will be part of those committees. Khanna also revealed that state governments like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Chhattisgarh to organize ‘State Specialist Programme’ for the benefit of members and their frontline staff. Chetan Gupta, General Secretary, ADTOI also informed the members about the study tour organised by Haryana Tourism to Kurukshetra.

The Association of Domestic Tour Operators (ADTOI) has released the final nominations list for its biennial election scheduled for Aug 10. Subhash Verma and P.P. Khanna are in the run for the President’s position with their respective teams in place. P.P. Khanna’s team has Rajat Sawhney contesting for the position for Vice President; Chetan Gupta for General Secretary; Rajesh Arya for Treasurer; and Dalip Gupta for Joint Secretary. Their team members contesting for EC Members include Manoj Varsheny, Rajeev Sobti, Ved Khanna, Sandeep Bhagat, Gaurav Chawala, Jatinder Bhatia and Reena Chopra. On the other hand, the team headed by Subhash Verma has Sanajy Aggarwal contesting for Vice President; Anurag Aggarwal for General Secretary; Kamal Gandhi for Treasurer; and Debashish Dey for Joint Secretary. Their nominations for EC Members include Arvind Khanna, Ankit Miglani, Ashish Sehgal, Manoj Mehta, Rajiv Chawal, Rajiv Arora, Sanajy Saxena and Vishal Joshi. Apart from these two teams, there are two independent candidates contesting for EC Members—Sandeep Bhagat and Vinay Ahuja.

The Ministry of Tourism conducted a joint discussion on July 22 with travel and hospitality associations to seek inputs and suggestions regarding the upcoming Incredible India Tourism Investor’s Summit, to be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, from September 21-23, 2016. Representatives of IATO, ADTOI, FAITH, PATA India Chapter, WTTC- India initiative, ITTA, ICPB, EIS, IHHA, and ESOI were present at the occasion. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, sought support and suggestions of all the trade bodies for the event. He said, “The Incredible India Tourism Investors Meet is aimed at sensitising everyone. Though we are having a very high and tremendous growth in tourism arrivals, this growth needs a supply chain for better infrastructure. The ministry has decided to create an environment for investment and this is one such event, which will be led by MOT and we have Invest India on board and we have also requested the embassies of various countries. We are going to make it an annual event. We have also decided to make an investment cell which is going to continuously monitor everything about the investments. We seek cooperation of all the hospitality and travel associations and suggestions to get the right investors for the summit, right investment opportunities in the country, and also ways to move forward with the summit.”