Tag Archives: President

Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, has said, “Yoga is India’s gift to the world. Wellness Tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of the industry and yoga occupies a very important place in the pursuit of wellness. The Covid pandemic brought mass tourism to a halt and as travel revives we can see a shift in the attitude of travellers – they are more focused and more discerning. India is uniquely placed as the home of three vital elements of wellness – yoga, Ayurveda and meditation, together they constitute a powerful magnet to attract the sensitive and ecologically aware tourist to our country.”

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO has requested the government to remove hurdles which are creating hindrances in revival of inbound tourism to our country and also has requested to help in in getting refund of travel agents from Jet Airways. He has requested to MoCA that directives should be issued to all domestic airlines, not to make it compulsory for the travelers to do web check-in.

MoT recently organised virtual roadshow titled ‘Incredible India Reconnect 2022’ from 26th April 2022 and IATO has written to them saying that virtual roadshows are no good and are not solving their problems, revealed Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO. They emphasised to have physical B2B meetings by organising roadshows which will be more meaningful and fruitful to revive business, he added.

Nilesh Shah, President, Travel & Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), reveals that international charters – the main artery for travel business in Goa – restarted from December 2021 from Russia and Ukraine. “From Moscow we are welcoming almost 500 passengers every ten days and we expect this to increase. However, the charters from Ukraine have paused for the time being due to the third wave and the civil unrest there. Moreover, TUI was to send four flights per week from the UK – two from Manchester and two from Gatwick. This unfortunately got cancelled because of the third wave. They were to start from January 20, 2022. But we remain hopeful and with the new private airport in Mopa which will be operational by the next season, I think the charter movement will see a boom as there will be no restrictions,” he shares.

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, has thanked the MOT and MoCA for reinstating the Commercial Airport Entry Airport Pass (AEP) for recognized tour operators and hotels. “We have been trying for a long time and now the orders have finally come. Now, at least when the borders open, our members can apply for airports passes in the same manner as they used to earlier, except there has been some capping on the number of passes available, for which we were given indication two years back, when the airport passes were being suspended,” he said.

Britain has unveiled a £10 million global tourism campaign, called the GREAT tourism campaign, at Expo 2020 Dubai in a bid to strengthen close trade ties with the UAE. The global initiative is aimed to drive inbound tourism to the UK, as the country gears up for a year of big events including Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The launch event was hosted by Visit Britain, and was held before UK National Day at Dubai Expo 2020. The tourism campaign will highlight major British events this year, set to be global visitor draws, especially the queen’s platinum jubilee, the Commonwealth Games and ‘Unboxed’, a UK-wide celebration of creativity. VisitBritain also hosted senior trade delegation from India in Dubai at a roundtable with Dame Judith Macgregor, Chairperson, VisitBritain, along with West Midlands Growth Company in the afternoon before the launch of new GREAT tourism campaign. The delegates included Sunil Suresh, Chief Marketing Officer, MakeMyTrip; Anoop Kanuga – Chairman, Tourism Services Committee at TAAI; Jitul Mehta, Chairman, Western Chapter, TAAI and Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI.

OTOAI held its General Meeting today in New Delhi, where they discussed about the work the association is doing with airlines and tourism board with the association members. Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI, revealed that the association is focusing on building relationship with stakeholders and are extending their support in providing all the necessary information required. “This is the time of cooperation and building relationship so everybody can strengthen their business, said Munshi.

Sharing some initial plans for the association’s annual convention, Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, reveals that this year, the team is looking at hosting it within India. He says, “We are talking to various state governments on the possibility of holding our convention within India next year. We would like to do a convention or a conclave or a congress in India which TAFI has not done. It is important that with the entire Dekho Apna Desh campaign, I think it is necessary for our members to explore newer destinations within India. We are talking to states to see where we can get some assistance. Hopefully, we should be able to plan something in India.”

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that in the tech era upgrading ourselves and our businesses is the need of the hour. “Post pandemic, I can assure that our fraternity will come out with the most innovative solutions. Even though our services are right-now being experienced and gauged only online by a set of travellers, however, we are doing our best to facilitate smooth, and hassle-free travel for customers from every aspect. We are now offering marketing solutions based on technology and upgraded ourselves by facilitating training programmes. However, to hand-hold and support our customers we need to come on ground,” she said.

Sanjay Agrawal, President, Ph.D. Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that that the unrest in Afghanistan may lead to a huge loss for Indian medical tourism. He revealed that Afghan patients and their friends and family members contribute around Rs 1.5-2 billion to the Indian economy. It is believed that for citizens from Afghanistan, India is a cheap healthcare destination where hospitals offer quality treatment at reasonable rates.