Tag Archives: IATO

Nominations for IATO election, scheduled on 25th April at The Ashok New Delhi, have been released. The last date of withdrawal is today by 3pm. As of now, for the position of the President, there have been five nominations— Rajiv Mehra, Uday Tours & Travels; Amaresh Tiwari, AT Seasons & Vacations Travel; Lally Mathews, Divine Voyages; Rajesh Mudgill, Planet India Travels and EM Najeeb, Air Travel Enterprises. For Senior Vice President, the nominations are— EM Najeeb, Air Travel Enterprises; Lajpat Rai, Lotus Trans Travel; and Sarab Jit Singh, Travelite (India). For Vice President, nominations have been received from Raj Bajaj, Perfect Travels & Tours; Ravi Gosain, Erco Travels; Amaresh Tiwari, AT Seasons & Vacations Travel; Arun Anand, Midtown Travels; Lally Mathews, Divine Voyages; Rajesh Mudgill, Planet India Travels; and Lajpat Rai, Lotus Trans Travel. For Hony. Secretary, nominations have been received from Rajnish Kaistha, Paradise Holidays India; Raj Bajaj, Perfect Travels & Tours; Ravi Gosain, Erco Travels; Amaresh Tiwari, AT Seasons & Vacations Travel; Lally Mathews, Divine Voyages; Rajesh Mudgill, Planet India Travels; and Sanjay Razdan, Razdan Holidays. For Hony. Treasurer, the nominations have been received from Rajnish Kaistha, Paradise Holidays India; Viney Tyagi, Uni Crystal Holidays; Ravi Gosain, Erco Travels; Arun Anand, Midtown Travels; Sunil Mishra, Cosmos Tours & Travels; Atul Rai, Ananya Tours; Tony Marwah, Indian Travel Promotion Company; and Sanjay Razdan, Razdan Holidays. For Hony. Joint secretary, Rajnish Kaistha, Paradise Holidays India; Raj Bajaj, Perfect Travels & Tours; Viney Tyagi – Uni Crystal Holidays; Sunil Mishra, Cosmos Tours & Travels; Atul Rai, Ananya Tours; Tony Marwah, Indian Travel Promotion Company; Sanjay Razdan, Razdan Holidays; and Naresh Sharma – Inpac Tours. For EC Members – Active (5 posts), …

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will have its elections on April 25, 2020 at The Ashok, New Delhi. The information was shared by Rajesh Mudgill, Hony. Secretary, IATO during the last interactive luncheon meeting of the current Executive Committee of the association took place on February 28. He said that official notification about the election will be soon shared with the members. Akshay Kumar, CEO, Mercury Himalayan Explorations will be the returning officer.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has estimated that there could be losses up to $500 million because of cancellations from tourists from China and other countries due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to an estimate, more than 50,000 Chinese tourists were expected to visit during January-February and most of these bookings have now been cancelled, as India has blocked the entry of people from China and Hong Kong apart from many other countries. “We fear an immediate loss of up to $500 million as the coronavirus outbreak has hit the arrival of tourists from China, Hong Kong and neighbouring countries,” said Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO. He said losses for domestic tour operators would be much higher, as many outgoing local tourists to China and other countries were also cancelling bookings after the outbreak. “There is a panic in the tourism sector as thousands of bookings have been cancelled,” said E.M. Najeeb, Senior Vice President, IATO. He said foreign as well as domestic tourists were cancelling travel to Kerala.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has informed that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Government of India has extended the validity of Airport Entry Passes for tour operators till March 31, 2020. Earlier, the Bureau had extended the validity till January 31, which initially expired on December 31, 2019. “We are pleased to inform you that with our regular follow up with Ministry of Civil Aviation/Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the Director-General- Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has extended the validity of Commercial Airport Entry Passes up to 31st March 2020. Necessary directives have been issued to All Regional Directors of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to take necessary action accordingly,” said an IATO circular. The extension has been given only to the tour operators, till the time new mechanism for passes is finalized by the Bureau of Civil Aviation, Security.

Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, shared that there was again no focus on tourism in Union Budget 2019-20, except that the government re-emphasised on 17 iconic sites being developed into world-class tourist destinations, which has been taken forward from the last Budget. “However, we welcome the mentioning of simplifying of GST process and absorbing of charges on digital transactions, which will encourage digital transactions. We also welcome the government’s plan to restructure the national highways programme to create a network of highways for better connectivity, upgradation of 125,000 km of roads in next 5 years at a cost of 802.5 billion rupee, more focus on Swachh Bharat mission and expansion of Railway suburban networks which will boost tourism as with increased infrastructure, better road connectivity and clean India, foreign tourists will be attracted.” He added, “We have been requesting the Government  for rationalizing of GST on tourism and hospitality, exemption of GST on foreign exchange earnings by the tour operators and treating tourism industry as deemed exporters and extending all benefits to the tourism industry as are being given to physical exports of goods and reduction, in Tourists Visa Fee so that we can compete with our neighbouring countries on foreign tourists arrivals, which will not only help bring in more foreign exchange but also create new jobs. However, this all remains pending and we hope our requests will be considered by the GST Council and Finance Ministry will consider the importance of tourism industry in employment generation and contribution in economic growth of the country.”

In a mutual agreement with Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) to benefit the travel trade, IndiGo is set to provide special extra baggage rates exclusively for IATO members. Keeping in view the free baggage allowance of 23 kgs allowed by international airlines into India, IndiGo has agreed to extend special prepaid excess baggage rates for the members of IATO, when they are handling foreign tourists on the airline’s domestic network. During the IATO Interactive Luncheon Meeting organised in Delhi, Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO informed, “With reference to our meetings and points discussed with IndiGo, we are pleased to extend this facility to all our members. Tourists can avail 8 kg of extra baggage for a special rate of Rs 1000. Likewise for 15 kg extra baggage, they can avail the facility by paying just Rs 1500. By informing the concerned authority before 72 hours of date of travel, IATO members can avail this facility.” The bimonthly IATO luncheon meeting was aimed at discuss key issues about the association’s activities and its deliberations on future event. On the occasion, IATO invited Ashwani Lohani, Former CMD, Indian Railways Board and former CMD, Air India to bid farewell to him, who superannuated from his services on December 31, 2018. Mehra also shared details about the celebration of IATO Annual Day on February 17, 2019 at Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has formulated the guidelines for approval/re-approval of Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs). The scheme is expected to set standards towards accreditation and add value to the dependability and reliability to the aggregators in the online space operating in the organised tourism sector. This is a voluntary scheme open to bonafide online travel aggregators to bring them on a common platform in the organised sector and the guidelines will be rolled out online by year end. There are several players in the OTA segment operating now without any accreditation/validation. One of the risks of letting the market operate unhindered is that unscrupulous players can vitiate the entire market through unethical trade practices. In order to engage with the OTAs constructively, it is imperative that a system is put in place with qualitative benchmarks to accredit them. The paramount concern would be the assurance of quality of service delivery for the customer by the OTA. The major features of the guidelines are: recognition as an approved OTA shall be granted by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, for five years, based on the inspection report/recommendations of a committee comprising the concerned Regional Director (RD), a representative of FHRAI and a representative of IATO, and approval of Competent Authority (Chairman, HRACC); the re-approval shall be granted for five years after inspection conducted by a committee of the same constitution, based upon an application, complete and free from all deficiencies, made by OTA along with the requisite fee/documents on the online platform, at least a clear 6 months prior to the expiry of the previous approval. In case the application is complete in all respects and free from all deficiencies is …

Yogendra Tripathi, the newly-appointed Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, marked his presence at the special luncheon organised by Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) to bid farewell to Rashmi Verma, Former Secretary, Tourism on her superannuation from the post. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, thanked Verma for her support and welcomed Tripathi on behalf of the association. Addressing the members, Tripathi said that he is aware of the contributions of his predecessor for the industry and is hopeful to take the industry voice to the government in the same manner. “There are always unresolved issues, as well as new problems and agendas for the industry. I believe that the Tourism Secretary is nothing but an advocate for the tourism industry. Apart from what we do indirectly, what we do directly is primarily promotional, which is also supporting the industry one way or the other. It is our job to support the industry, and we will continue to do that,” he added.

With a day stacked with business sessions focusing on imperative issues and state presentations, the audience was treated with intense discussions on day one of the two-day convention in Vishakhapatnam. The day started with the conventional IATO Run for Responsible Tourism in the morning. The first session of the day aimed to highlighted the challenges of touching the ambitious milestone of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals within the next few years. The panelists also touched upon the ways in which this can be achieved. The second session brought together members of key hotel companies face to face with tour operators to discuss what both industries can do to help the other since it is getting harder and harder to do business, whether it is the hotels or the travel trade.  The following session had an all-women panel who spoke about their personal experiences that are evidence that India is a safe country. However, they did present ways in which the safety of women travellers could improve. The final panel discussion, moderated by Rajesh Mudgill, MD, Planet India Travels, deliberated on how to change one’s business to adapt to the changing mindset of today’s travellers. In between the state presentations and panel discussions, the audience also took advantage of individual presentations made by Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH; an informative session on how travel agents can use digital marketing by Avijit Arya, Founder, Internet Mogul.  

The 34th annual convention of one of India’s biggest inbound travel trade associations, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), started with a grand opening here in Visakhapatnam. Arriving on time for the inauguration, K J Alphons, Minister of State (IC) for Tourism, Govt of India, graced the event that saw an overwhelming attendance from IATO members pan India. The three-day event whose theme aims at 20 million foreign tourists by 2020, will debate on pertinent issues that India currently faces in reaching this milestone. At present, India welcomes approximately 11 million FTAs per year. The evening started with cultural performances local to Andhra Pradesh followed by welcome speeches from the IATO team and keynote addresses from various state dignitaries present. Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, whop was present at the event has invited IATO to organise their next convention in the state.