Tag Archives: Indian Association of Tour Operators

In yet another display of excellence in journalism, Team DDP collected two awards for outstanding reportage presented by the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) at its recently-concluded 34th annual convention held in Visakhapatnam. The team was awarded for Tourism Breaking News as best online media as well as for IATO Manual. TravTalk magazine brought out two special daily issues during the three-day convention, highlighting key issues that the event was focusing on. The team thanks IATO for recognising its efforts and hopes that it continues to break boundaries in covering pertinent issues that plague the travel industry.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has recently announced the theme for its 34th Annual Convention as ’20 Million Tourists: Challenges & Possibilities’, to be held in Visakhapatnam from September 6-9, 2018. While announcing the theme, Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO said, “The theme has been finalised after consideration from the Ministry of Tourism. We will hold discussions on it and will try to look how we can achieve this target. A session will be held on hotels and airlines during the convention. The theme has been finalised by the Executive Committee.” The association has already announced the governing body for the convention. While Rajiv Mehra has been appointed as the Chairman, Rajesh Mudgil, Hony Secretary, IATO has been appointed as Co-Chairman. Amaresh Tiwari has been named as Convener for IATO Run for Responsible Tourism. The venue of the convention is Hotel Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. Talking about IATO’s activities in last one month, Mehra said, Mehra said, “We conducted a roadshow to the US with Ministry of Tourism where 25 active members of IATO participated. We also concluded IATO’s Chapter Meeting in Mumbai, attended by Hony Secretary Rajesh Mudgil.”

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is set to hold its annual convention in Visakhapatnam from September 6-9, 2018. The venue of the convention is Hotel Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. IATO announced its convention almost a year in advance and declared Andhra Pradesh as the host state for the 2018 convention, just when they had announced the 2017 convention in Odisha. The IATO team will start working on the convention post its election, which is due on April 28, 2018.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has announced their biennial election, which will be held at The Ashok, New Delhi on April 28, 2018. Akshay Kumar, Vice Chairman, Federation of Associations of Indian Tourism and Hospitality will preside over the election as returning officer. Kumar had conducted the elections in 2016 as well, when the current team was elected. The protocols and nominations for the elections shall start in one week.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is keen to conduct an educational seminar on the Northeast for its members. The association feels that there is a need for its members to learn about the Northeastern destinations and know about the ground realities of the same, to be able to sell it to their clients. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “We are willing to organise the educational seminar for our members around India with the help of local members in Northeast, so that they are well aware of the region’s destinations. We are waiting for our members to show interest for the same to take forward the idea soon.”

After successfully concluding its annual convention in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha from September 7-10, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has announced its first outbound convention in Sri Lanka. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, reveals, “We have been given a green signal from the Sri Lanka Tourism Board for our first outbound convention that will be held from October 2-5, 2017 in Colombo. We will be working on that now and will inform our members as soon as we return to New Delhi. This will be the first outbound convention that will be organized by IATO. We will discuss the agenda for that and announce it within a few days.”  

Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will be having its 2018 convention in Andhra Pradesh. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “The 2018 convention of IATO will be held in Andhra Pradesh. However, the city and the venue for the same has not been decided as yet.” Currently, IATO is geared for its 33rd Convention, which is to be held from September 7-10, 2017 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, and expected to see members and delegates in big numbers.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has finalised the Chairman and Co-chairman of their convention scheduled from September 7-10, 2017 at The Mayfair Convention Centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO, is the Chairman, while Lally Matthews, Hon. Secretary, IATO, has been designated as the Co-Chairman for the convention. On their planning for the convention, Mehra said, “We are looking forward to an excellent convention, and discuss various issues like GST, role of social media, as well as how to get leads through websites and developing websites. Through sessions, we will be working towards the ultimate aim of telling our members how to grow their business. We are choosing topics through which we can do something for our medium and small sized operators.” Matthews, on the other hand, said, “Right now we are trying to get the registrations started. Also, we are waiting for the GST roll out, so that the hotel rates can be finalised under the new regime.”

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has announced that its Maharashtra Chapter will come together once again in Karjat on June 21. IATO’s National Committee along with Chairman of Western Region, N.S. Rathor are expected to present for this. Announcing this is Himanshu Agashiwala, Chairman, Maharashtra Chapter, IATO, who says, “Our Maharashtra chapter conducts at least four to five meetings in a year. One such meeting will be held on June 21 at Hotel Radisson Blu in Karjat. It is a day-long event and we have even invited our executive committee from New Delhi to join us. They might stay overnight. This will be third time that the executive committee from Delhi will be attending a Western Chapter meeting. They normally meet in Delhi itself. One of our members Arika Holidays has managed to get rooms and lunch at the hotel for our members.”

Mumbai Port will soon be among the three Indian ports in the country that will be able to offer e-visa facilities to international cruise passengers. Revealing this, N.S. Rathor, Chairman, Western Region and Regional Chapter Chairman, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), says, “I was part of the meeting between Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust, and the Bureau of Immigration officials who have principally agreed to allow the port to offer e-visa facilities by December 2017. Currently, only Mangalore, Goa and Kochi offer this.” Talks are on to offer this service from Chennai seaport soon. Foreigners will then be able to enter India through five seaports — Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, Goa and Mangalore — with electronic visa (e-visa), in addition of 16 airports where the facility is available.