Category Archives: Associations

During its AGM and elections held virtually, ATOAI has elected new office-bearers and EC for 2021-23 term and form a Women Task Force. Vishwas Makhija, Managing Director, Inside India Tours is the new President while Rajesh Ojha, Managing Director, Banjara Camps is new Senior Vice President. Vaibhav Kala, Managing Director, Aquaterra Adventures India has been elected as the new Vice President. Vinayak Koul, Director, Snowlion Expeditions is back for a 2nd term as Hony. Secretary while Pradeep Murty, Director, Muddy Boots Vacations has been chosen as new Hony. Treasurer. Executive committee members are: – Commander Sam T Samuel – Kalypso Adventures. Ronny Singh Gulati – Youreka Campouts. Nirat Bhatt – Nidus Enterprises. Nadeem Sheikh – Sea & Sky Travel (India). Arvind Bhardwaj – Red Chilli Adventure Sports. Milind Bhide – Countryside Adventure Holidays. The new ATOAI team will continue to progress the growth of adventure travel in India by taking forward the association’s aims and shaping government policy for this sector. Apart from resolving issues impacting adventure tourism in the country, its main objectives would be to bring more adventure tour operators across the country into the mainstream of Quality and Responsible Tourism Practices as a member, getting all states to adopt ATOAI’s safety guidelines, prioritizing operational risk assessment within the membership, conducting skill development & capacity building workshops in association with state tourism departments and local associations, running educational seminars and FAM tours for members, fostering new and innovative adventure tourism products and creating a pool of trained human resources within the industry.  ATOAI also seeks to take measures to reduce environmental impact on India’s natural resources, check mass- tourism in our remote locales, and take active measures to help …

FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism in 2021. The association has emphasized on the need to encourage local tourism under the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) Dekho Apna Desh Pledge campaign. The association has also recommended incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under 80C of up to Rs 50,000.

EM Najeeb, Chairperson, Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry and Sr VP, IATO has said that frontline tourism workers in travel and tourism should be given priority for COVID-19 vaccination. “For a state like Kerala, a healthy, robust tourism industry is critical to the overall recovery of the economy as it contributes over 10 per cent of the GDP,” he said.

ADTOI has announced that their 10th Annual Convention will be taking place from 12-14 February at Statue of Unity, with the support of Gujarat Tourism. The theme of the convention is Domestic Tourism – Hope For The Revival ‘Dekho Apna Desh’. To be held at the Convention Hall, Tent City 2, Kevadia, Gujarat. PP Khanna revealed that the convention is aimed at promoting domestic tourism and they have been in talks with Gujarat Tourism for a long time, and they will be together be promoting Kevadia as an upcoming domestic destination.

IATO, in association with TravTalk, is hosting a webinar today at 11:30 am, to educate attendees on new ideas in strategic cost cutting and its benefits. The speaker for the session will be Amol Bajaj, Head – Apprenticeship, Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council (THSC). To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91-9650196532.

India’s apex hotel association, FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism this year, and recommended that incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under Section 80C of up to Rs50,000 to Indian nationals will encourage them to travel, thus helping achieve the goal.

TAAI has appealed to Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation and PS Patel, Minister of Tourism, to set up urgent protocols for travellers who are getting vaccinated against COVID-19. “This shall enable vaccinated travellers to resume their activities to pre-COVID times and live towards a better future,” says Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI.

TAFI’s Pune (Maharashtra) chapter recently elected its new team for the term 2021-23. Sunil Uttam has been elected Chairman, Sameer Kulkarni is Honorary Secretary and Pramod Bidkar is Honorary Treasurer.

To ensure that there is shared tourism vision across the centre & state, FAITH has proposed the creation of a National Tourism Council of Chief Ministers headed by the PM along with Tourism Minister. That should be supported by a common industry status across the country for the complete tourism industry by putting it in the concurrent list.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) will be organising the PATA Annual Summit (PAS) 2021 online from April 27-29. The three-day virtual event will bring together international thought leaders, industry shapers and senior decision-makers.