Tag Archives: ETAA

ETAA announced its new team for the North India chapter. Taking on the baton from Sangeeta Manocha, Saurabh Tuteja is appointed as the new Chairman of the association. He shared that ETAA will be creating more opportunities for members to learn, network and empower and will continue to contribute to the success and growth of the association. Punit Bhasin is the Senior Vice Chairman, Deepika Khanna is the General Secretary, and Sangeeta Manocha is the new advisor. Gaurav Arora and Praveen Ghai will continue their stint as Joint Secretaries. 

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.

Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) in association with Pride Hotels hosted its North India members at a physical event called ‘The Comeback’ – an example of creating a safe event in the current times. Sangeeta Manocha, Chairperson of ETAA North India, says, “This is the time to come back as the travel industry has started taking baby steps.” Saurabh Tuteja, General Secretary added that travel industry has gone through many ups and downs from time to time and will surely bounce back this time as well. Dinesh Kumar, Treasurer emphasized that keeping patience is the need of an hour. Praveen Ghai, Joint Secretary is hopeful that domestic tourism has a golden time ahead and international will follow. Punit Bhasin, Joint Secretary added that this is the time, when we need to forget the past and be more innovative in creating the golden time ahead. Arush Mittal, Head-Alliance emphasized members that helping and supporting each other will be the key to success. Gaurav Arora, Head – Events added that soon industry will move to the normal state, MICE will surely pick up as people want to move out of their stress zone. Jagat Mehta, President – ETAA and Dharmesh Advani, General Secretary also shared their thoughts with the members via a video message. The event concluded with a performance by a Bollywood band. During the lockdown, ETAA conducted numerous knowledge sessions via online webinars on different destinations and tourism opportunities.  

The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) will conduct an exclusive webinar on July 24 with the Regional Ministry of Tourism Office to demonstrate to its members how they can get a ‘Ministry of Tourism Recognized Service Provider’ stamp. Presentation will be done by Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Regional Director (West & Central India), Indiatourism Mumbai, Ministry of Tourism.

The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) has announced its new National Committee for the term 2020-2021. Jagat Mehta will continue to be the President and Board Member, and Dharmesh Advani has been promoted to National General Secretary and Board Member of ETAA. Meghana Gautam is now Joint General Secretary while Carl Dantas remains Chairman Emeritus and Founder President of ETAA. During the lockdown, the association conducted 15 webinars for its members on various topics such as CRM, unexplored destinations, insurance, legal compliance, social media, etc. It will continue to organise webinars for its members to impart knowledge and to assist them in growing business. Jagat Mehta says, “The association is disappointed with the government as it has not considered any relief packages for the Tourism Industry even after our constant efforts to highlight the problems faced by our industry due to Covid-19. However, we are still pursuing the matter, since this effect may last for a significant period in the near future.” The various Chapter Chairpersons are Sangeeta Manocha (North India), Santosh Khawale (Western India), Koushik Banerjee (East India), Jagadeesh Hanumanthaih (South India) and Nikhil Pargaonkar (Mumbai Region). Abhijit Khadilkar has decided to move on from his post of National General Secretary for ETAA and will now concentrate on growing his business.  

The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) recently organised a two-day weekend programme for its members in and around Mumbai held at RMP foundation- UTTAN. The rejuvenating weekend was attended by 40 travel agents. ETAA organised team-bonding activities with the support of Adventure Holidays, followed by a knowledge session to help agents improve their business skill by renowned business coach R Muthye. Apart from music and dance, members also participated in a yoga session.  

Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) organised a session on GST in Mumbai for its members. The event was attended by 75 plus travel agents. The session was conducted by CA Yash Parmar, from Gabhawala & Company. Commenting on the occasion Jagat Mehta, President, ETAA, said, “We had a lot of queries coming in regarding GST and we decided to keep a session on GST to answer doubts of our members. Our expert brought some clarity on how GST is an effective tool and an inevitable truth for all industries, he highlighted the GST implications on the travel trade. We also plan to do GST sessions in Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune where we have member presence. We are worried with competing with OTA’s as they are not registered in India and how that will affect us as agents due to GST and will be doing more such sessions on GST until things are clear.”

Pankaj Nagpal – Managing Director, Travstarz Global Group has resigned from his position as the Enterprising Travel Agents Association National Director & Chapter Chairman – North India, after being an Office Bearer for ETAA for over five years. Commenting on the move, he said, “I have served ETAA to the best of my ability during my tenure and have established ETAA in North India Region which had only 13 members when I took over and today stands at over 150 Members. I thank my last Committee for all their contribution and all the Members for their support. My pre-occupation with the business is one of the reasons that I decided to quit ETAA and I am sure the board will find a capable replacement to take ETAA forward and I wish them all the very best for the future specially after the successful 2nd Domestic Convention held recently at Hyderabad.” He had announced the dissolution of the existing North India Committee during the last member’s meet held at Ashoka Hotel in November 2016, and was in the process of forming the new committee but decided to resign himself as well.

Enterprising Travel Agent’s Association (ETAA) took their second Domestic Convention to Hyderabad which was held from Mar 3-5, 2017, at Leonia Holistic Destination. The event gathered over 200 attendees, informed Jagat Mehta, President, ETAA, and added that the edition saw a pan-India participation from different states of the country such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi, West Bengal, to name a few. He elaborated, “We were very satisfied with the turnout and the response. While there were a few last minute cancellations, it did nothing to deter the spirit. Our first domestic convention was held back in 2011 with 180 members from Mumbai, Pune and a few from Gujarat so in comparison to that, we’ve managed to bring together a diverse crowd. Yes, business is the main aim but so is forging and strengthening bonds.” The three-day convention involved B2B meetings between buyers and sellers that was effective in connecting travel agents and tour operators from Tier II & III cities to travel suppliers, and also saw a host of team-building activities take place in the sprawling 150-acre property.

Reacting to this ongoing tug of war between airlines and travel agents, M.P. Joy, South India Chapter Chairman, Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) and Director, Voyargo Vacations in Bengaluru, says that in the process of distributing air tickets of various airlines, agents incur overheads of managing office, staff, etc. which are increasing every day. “In any business, the facilitator/agent must benefit so that the system works smoothly. I wonder why the airlines are reducing commissions to travel agents when they are the ones to benefit from the travel agents. Any effort in any business should be appreciated with adequate compensation to take care of the expenses as well as margins. It is unfortunate that airlines are not supporting us.” He adds, “Airlines should extend at least five per cent commission to authorised travel agents who support them.”