Tag Archives: Travel Agents Federation of India

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.”

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has introduced its new team for Western India Chapter for 2016-18. The new team comprises Abbas Moiz (Chairman), Sapna Rateria (Secretary), Jitul Mehta (Treasurer), Vikram Paul (Returning Officer), Suprabh Oza (Committee Member) and Burjis Mehta (Committee Member). Rajat Bagaria, Member, TAFI National Managing Committee, said, “The new committee thanks Darshan Mehta, Outgoing Chairman, for his contribution towards TAFI and the trade. We would also like to thank Vikram Paul, who has consented to be the Returning Officer. We re-iterate our commitment to the improvement of the trade. We shall work hand-in-hand with partner associations where needed to stand united as an industry. We request all members to please bring to us the issues which are being faced. We have been approached by members with their visa issues, ADM and other issues, which we are trying to resolve. We look forward to suggestions and guidance from all our members.”

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has been busy with its ongoing chapter elections and will soon be conducting its national team election along with its Annual General Meeting (AGM) by June end. Revealing this information is Pradip Lulla, National General Secretary, TAFI, who said, “A lot of our chapters like Tamil Nadu have completed their elections. We will now be sending out notification for our AGM to all our members that will be combined with our national committee elections around June end. We are still deciding on the city and venue. By July, we will be able to finally roll out our Joint Bank Guarantee Scheme.” TAFI had earlier deferred the joint bank guarantee scheme last June citing unsuitable legal terms for its members.

After signing an MoU with Rwanda recently to promote bilateral tourism from and into India, the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) might also be looking at it as the venue for its upcoming annual convention that will be held in August or September of this year. As part of the protocol, it is in talks with a couple of destinations for this and one of them is Rwanda, hints Zakkir Ahmed, President of TAFI. “We will be able to announce the destination only by March end or early April. Our MoU with Rwanda includes not just outbound but inbound as well. It is not very well-known to tourists in India. So we will help them do some promotions through our members and familiarization tours. If possible, we will also do our convention there,” he says.

Rwanda Development Board has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) to promote the destination in India. It signed an MoU with TAAI on February 18 during OTM Mumbai in the presence of Marzban Antia, Vice President, TAAI; H.E. Ernest Rwamucyo, High Commissioner of Rwanda, New Delhi; and Jay Bhatia,Treasurer and Tourism Council Chairman, TAAI. Rwanda also signed an MoU with TAFI that evening at its event ‘Remarkable Rwanda’ in the presence of TAFI National President Zakkir Ahmed and Linda Mutesi, Tourism Marketing Division Manager, Rwanda Development Board. The Rwandian visa processing takes 24 hours. Through the East African tourism visa – a multiple entry visa valid for 3 months could be availed.  Travellers can explore Rwanda along with Kenya and Uganda.