Tag Archives: President

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has finally frozen on the venue and dates for its 63rd convention. Sunil Kumar, President, TAAI, revealed, “We have decided on Abu Dhabi as the venue for our next convention that will be held from October 14-16, 2016. We are in the process of blocking air seats now. It is one of the strongest destinations in the Middle East region and also an easy place to reach from India. “We want a strong convention this year with a strong focus, for our members as well as our partners. We will focus on both inbound as well as outbound. We are amidst signing contracts for this right now and have blocked rooms and convention space at the grandiose Emirates Palace,” he said. The team is now working on the convention theme, logistics and other details.

In a landmark move the Vadodara Municipal Corporation has abolished health licences for hotels and restaurants operating in the city. According to a notification issued by the Corporation, Sanitary Health License under G.P.M.C Act was duplication as health and sanitation are already covered under Food & Safety Act 2006. “Central Govt and State Govt has in recent times been emphasising on ‘ease of doing business’ and simplification of regulations to reduce difficulties faced by general public. Considering this matter, with immediate effect, Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Ward Offices, Health Department, has cancelled issuance of Health License under Sec. 376 of G. P. M. C. Act, wherever license under Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 is required and issued,” states the notification. Hailing the move as a milestone in the history of corporate India, The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), the apex body representing hotels and restaurant across the western region of India has commended Vadodara’s new Municipal Commissioner and expressed hope that other cities will follow the precedent. “For the last nine years we have been petitioning Municipalities across the Western Region for the exclusion of this particular license as it was a repetition and merely added to paper work and red-tapism. The association welcomes the decision and appreciates the affirmative and expedited action of H.S. Patel, Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara,” says Bharat Malkani, President, HRAWI.

Khalid Khan has been re-elected as President of Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators (RATO) while Mahender Singh will continue to hold the post of General Secretary of RATO for the next two years. The members were re-elected unopposed at the annual general meeting of the association. The new Executive Committee (EC) will be selected soon. Thanking the members, Khan assured all members of continuous efforts for betterment of RATO members, their rights and interests and for the promotion of tourism in Rajasthan

The ninth edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) is set to be the biggest and farthest-reaching yet. The biennial event will witness 57 countries besides 20 Indian states during the three-day Mart, which is being organised by the KTM Society in association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala on September 27, World Tourism Day, in Kochi. Ten countries will be represented at the Mart for the first time, with Mexico, Georgia, Japan, China, Chile, Greece, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Botswana – markets as diverse as they are distant – all confirmed to participate. The 560 total international delegates registered for KTM 2016 features the biggest-ever contingents from 10 highly-prized traditional markets, including the US, Canada and Australia. Domestic participation too has seen an uptick, buoyed by aggressive marketing campaigns. Some 1,304 Indian buyers will participate this year. “The KTM has always emphasised the consistent identification of quality buyers in ever newer territories as much as retaining participation from conventional markets. With representation from 10 new nations this year, our efforts have borne fruit,” said Abraham George, President, KTM Society. “For KTM 2016, we have extended the prefixed appointment system to registered domestic buyers, which will help the business session be more effective for both the sellers and buyers. The focus is on emphasising quality of interactions,” he added.

Sunil Kumar, President, United Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA), revealed that UFTAA’ Golden Jubilee Congress will be held on November 21-23, 2016. “The board wants to do it on the same day as the anniversary which is on November 22 and there are no major shows happening around that time. We have also closed on the venue but we will announce it only later as we are still watching the situation there. It will be held outside India,” Kumar said. UFTAA will also be getting ready for the Passenger Agency Conference (PAConf) that will take place in September in Singapore, he added.  

The National Green Tribunal’s order to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR will not have a major impact on tourism, says Krishan Dutt Yadav, President, Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA). “There will be no significant impact on tourism with this ban as most of the taxis that we operate for tourists have a life of maximum nine years and are generally changed after five years. However the actual problem is the sluggish procedure for reissuance of national permits after five years. There is no clarification on the reissuance of these permits which leaves the taxis and heavy duty vehicles dysfunctional,” Dutt says. According to media reports, the NGT order to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR could take away 70 per cent of the goods carriage fleet of the capital and nearly 90 per cent of its private chartered buses. Besides, around 11,500 buses would have to be deregistered. That’s 88% of the 13,000 diesel buses registered with the department. Earlier this year, the court had allowed diesel vehicle owners to get an NOC and dispose of their vehicles. However, whether this would still be applicable to the vehicles nearing 10 years or not needs to be clarified, officials said. According to figures with the transport department, there are 2.82 lakh diesel vehicles in Delhi which will be impacted by the NGT order. Of these, 1.61 lakh are private vehicles.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) concluded its national elections on June 30 in Ahmedabad and the new team thus elected will take over office from today. The unopposed Office Bearers include Praveen Chugh as the President, Pradip Lulla as the new Vice President, Aditi Bhende as Secretary and Jayesh Tharani as Treasurer. Zakkir Ahmed is now the Immediate Past President. The seven Committee Members for whom the elections were held include: Basheer Ahmed, Darshan Shah, Rajat Bagaria, Urvashi Gupta, Bharat Shah, Teddy Thomas and Sanjay Gupta. All of them have been re-elected except for Bharat Shah who replaces Jayesh Tharani as the Managing Committee Member.

With the British pound taking a hard hit as the UK voted to leave the European Union, the fall by over 8 per cent to Rs 91.36 within a day is expected to increase India’s outbound traffic to the UK. Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), says that it will mainly benefit Indian travellers who are immediately travelling to the nation. “The outbound surge will be momentary – outbound tourism will increase till the GDP remains low. But things are very unpredictable as of now due to the uncertain circumstances,” he said.

Praveen Chugh of Business Travels has been elected unopposed to the post of President of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). His nomination was proposed by Sheraton Travels and seconded by Golden Phoenix Travel. The last date for receiving nominations for this year’s TAFI national elections, held biennially,  was 1700 hours on June 15, 2016. He previously held the post of Vice President, TAFI. After examining the nominations that were received by the TAFI Secretariat in Mumbai, a list of names have been announced of those who have been elected unopposed and those who will be contesting the elections on June 30 at Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad. Rajat Bagaria, previous Member of TAFI National Managing Committee, said, “Zakkir Ahmed will now be the Immediate Past President of TAFI. He has been our President for two continuous terms that is four years and will continue to be part of the MC meetings.”

Announcing the debut of its convention dedicated to India’s nightlife, Riyaaz Amlani, President, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), revealed that it will be held at St. Regis in Mumbai from July 17-18, 2016. It will be the first platform specifically designed to bring together and recognise the various stakeholders of one of India’s most vibrant and fastest-growing industry – nightlife. The event is a joint initiative of Kickstart Entertainment and NRAI. “The two-day convention will have multiple business sessions with speakers from the sector from across India. This will include three international speakers as well. We are also looking to get attendance from the government, including the Ministry of Tourism, Home and Excise because we don’t fall under any single ministry. We are also inviting someone from the Government of Maharashtra since it is happening in Mumbai. We want them to listen to our problems and see that this is a serious industry.”