SMA Sheeraz, Director, Sheeraz Tours, has said, “Travellers from Tier II & III cities want to explore places with longer itineraries for this summer, eg. Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, ALULA in Saudi, or destinations like Hua Hin & Chiang Mai in Thailand & Malaysian Kota Kina Balu, Radang. Regular itineraries are not trending anymore.”

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, thanked the membership for voting his Dream team at the elections and said that their focus going forward will be to serve them in the best way possible. “We will do our best to fulfil the needs of tourism fraternity,” he said.

Manisha Saxena, DG, Tourism, has said that digital presentation of strengths is very important as a destination and a lot of states have done some good work on it. “Almost everyone has a website and a tourism app. However, challenge of digitalization is how to combine all of it with the places where all the action is,” he said.

IATO has elected its new team for the term 2023-25. The election for the post of Office Bearers and Executive Committee Members were at The Ashok Hotel, New Delhi. Total number of votes cast were 278 out of 378 eligible members to cast their vote. The office bearers were elected unopposed and voting took  place for  the  EC members. List of Office Bearers/EC Members who have been declared elected are: • President – Mr. Rajiv Mehra, Uday Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. • Sr. Vice President- Mr. Rajnish Kaistha, Paradise Holidays India Pvt. Ltd. • Vice President – Mr. Ravi Gosain, Erco Travels Pvt. Ltd. • Hony. Secretary – Mr. Sanjay Razdan, Razdan Holidays • Hony. Treasurer – Mr. Sunil Mishra, Cosmos Tours & Travels • Hony. Joint Secretary – Mr. Viney Tyagi, Uni Crystal Holidays Pvt. Ltd. • Immediate Past President – Mr. Pronab Sarkar, Swagatam Tours Pvt. Ltd. EC Members – Active (5 Posts) 1. Mr. Deepak Bhatnagar – Aamantaran Travel Company Pvt. Ltd. 2. Mr. E.M. Najeeb, Air Travel Enterprises (I) Pvt. Ltd. 3. Mr. Harish Mathur, Concord Travels & Tours 4. Mr. Manoj Kumar Matta, Oriental Vacations & Journeys Pvt. Ltd. 5. Mr. Tony Marwah, Indian Travel Promotion Company Pvt. Ltd. EC Members –Allied (3 Posts) 1.  Mr. Ashok Dhoot – Harsh Travels 2. Mr. P. Vijayasarathy – Benchmark Hotels Pvt. Ltd. 3.  Mr. Zia Siddiqui – Alliance Hotels & Resorts The Returning Officer for the elections was Homa Mistry.

Vinod Kannan, CEO, Vistara, has said that “While ideal fleet size depends on context and goals, Vistara aims to increase its international capacity from 25 per cent to 40 per cent and reach a fleet size of 70 in the next year.”

Switzerland Tourism invites the trade to attend a webinar highlighting Switzerland’s public transport network today at 3pm. Attend all webinars for a chance to win a trip to Switzerland! Write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Amit Ray, Director India, DACH markets & Italy and Head of Global Corporate and Strategic Sales at LOT Polish Airlines, has said that LOT Polish Airlines and India are a good fit. “Our engagement in India has been fruitful and we strongly believed in the Indian market from the beginning,” he said.

Switzerland Tourism invites the travel trade to attend an exclusive webinar highlighting Switzerland’s public transport network – the Swiss Travel System, and the current ongoing Free Travel Days promo offer – on April 18 at 3pm. Attend all webinars for a chance to win a trip to Switzerland in 2024! For more information, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, has said that this year the states of Northeast will get good traffic because the road conditions and flights to some of those states has improved manifold. “Thus, I am hopeful, that this year people will focus on going to NE,” he added.

According to a recent update from the US department of state, US visa costs will rise from next month as processing fees for certain categories rise. “The hike – ranging from $15 to $110 – will come into effect from May 30 and apply to tourist or business as well as student and exchange visitor visas,” revealed an official document. “The fee for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2), and other non-petition based NIVs such as student and exchange visitor visas, will increase from $160 to $185,” stated the document.