Category Archives: Associations

The Association of Tourism Trade Organizations India (ATTOI) is organising an International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT) at the Le Meridien Kochi from June 8 to 10 with support from Kerala Tourism. ATTOI has been pushing for more travel and hospitality industry stakeholders in India to use technology to support and grow their businesses. Anish Kumar P.K, President, ATTOI, says, “Conventional tour operators, especially in India, may think online customer reviews and ratings or being present on the internet is secondary to their business, but they need to realize the impact that digital platforms are having on the decisions Indians make on holiday travel. If your website does not show up in Google searches, if you are not on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, or responding to customer reviews on TripAdvisor and MyTourReview, you may be losing out on large volumes of business.” ATTOI has created a platform exclusively for costumer reviews for tour operators called MyTourReview. Anish Kumar adds, “The ICTT is a chance for travel businesses to learn from the experiences of people who have benefited tremendously from taking the technology route. Your consumers are not just sitting behind computers, they are making their searches on tablets and smartphones, so you need to make your presence felt on all devices.” He said the future of travel is certainly digital, and ATTOI is maximizing its use of technology, for instance in using live streaming as a promotional campaign tool for the upcoming second edition of ICTT. In December last year, ATTOI, as a curtain raiser to an international conference, organised a live streaming of an underwater engagement to showcase beach resorts as a unique offering of Kerala Tourism. Over …

The 105th session of the UNWTO Executive Council, meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 12 May 2017, recommended Zurab Pololikashvili, Ambassador of Georgia in Spain, as a nominee for the post of Secretary-General for the four-year-period starting January 2018. The candidature of Zurab Pololikashvili was presented by his country, Georgia, in accordance with the UNWTO statutes. The recommendation of the UNWTO Executive Council will be submitted to the upcoming 22nd UNWTO General Assembly for ratification (September 11-16, 2017, Chengdu, China). Pololikashvili is the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). He also has broad experience of working in both private and public sectors at high-profile positions. He has extensive diplomatic experience, having represented Georgia to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), as well as serving as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Spain. He also held a position of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2006.

PATA India Chapter’s Secretary Jatinder Taneja has been elected to PATA(HQ) Industry Council Member for the term 2017-19 and PATA India Treasurer Vikram Madhok, is heading the council in the capacity of Chairman, Industry Council. A travel enthusiast himself, Taneja is the Managing Director and moving force behind TSI- Luxury Holidays. A Post Graduate, gifted with strong business acumen, he has continued to keep miles ahead of the competition by emphasizing on well planned, focused business strategy and by offering value added services to the customers.

Policy leaders, statisticians, academicians and private sector will convene in Manila, The Philippines, from June 21-24, 2017, to discuss new methodologies to measure the full impacts of tourism. The 6th edition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Statistics, an official event of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, will address the topic of ‘Measuring Sustainable Tourism’. Supported by the United Nations Statistics Division, the UNWTO initiative ‘Towards a Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism’ (MST) underlines the need to measure the full effects of the tourism sector. The UNWTO International Conference to be held in Manila will serve as a platform to discuss the first draft of the MST framework and its future implementation. The Philippines has become a reference in the region with regard to tourism measurement and a role model in the development of effective inter-institutional collaboration to develop tourism statistics. The commitment of the country, shown in the development of the Tourism Satellite Account framework, explains the decision to host the discussion on the MST initiative. A Ministerial Roundtable will inaugurate the Conference in order to align efforts to advocate among governments the relevance of integrated and reliable data to manage and promote a more sustainable tourism sector. Afterwards, a Panel of Statistical Institutes will provide the opportunity to share experiences and practices implemented at global, regional and national level. Other technical sessions will focus on understanding data demands, the link between the economic, the environmental and the social dimensions of sustainable tourism, including job creation, sub-national measurement, Sustainable Development Goals  (SDGs) indicators, and data sources including big data. Besides policy leaders, statistical experts and private sector, representatives from international organizations …

Travel Agents Association of India – Northern Region (TAAI-NR) welcomed Cristina Ionela Tarteata, Deputy Minister, Tourism, Government of Romania and H.E. Radu Octavian Dobre, Charge d’affaires, Romanian Embassy in New Delhi, to present the destination to its members. The minister made a small presentation at the event, and said that they want Indians to consider Romania as a destination of choice for leisure as well as business travels. She also answered questions by the TAAI-NR members and urged them to promote Romania in their itineraries. Before the presentation, TAAI-NR team, presided by Chairman Rajan Sehgal also held its members’ meet and updated members about what the association is doing.  

India’s business travel industry has grown by 16.2 per cent over the past five years (2011-2016), according to a report by Travelport and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) launched at the WTTC Global Summit 2017 in Bangkok. It has been predicted that Asia-Pacific will lead the way at a predicted rate of 6.2 per cent each year to 2027, with India (7.2%) among the top five countries attributing to the growth. Over the past five years, at a global level, business travel spend has grown at an annual average of 3.6 per cent, with the strongest growth in the past 5 years having taken place in Asia, the Middle East and Sub Saharan Africa. The CEO of Travelport, Gordon Wilson, commented: “Every day we see business travel growing at a significant rate in many emerging markets with technology playing an in increasingly important role in easing the way for those on trips for their work. As an industry we need to continue to invest in the best technologies and infrastructure whilst governments need to be more business-friendly by removing burdensome visa requirements.” David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC, said: “Travel & Tourism generates USD$7.6 trillion in GDP and supports over 292 million jobs. Business travel is a vital part of the sector, and it is a key catalyst for global growth. It drives the relationships, investments, supply chains and logistics that support international trade flows.”

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) announces the departure of David Scowsill, President & CEO, after six years at the helm of the organisation. During his tenure as the third President in the 26 year history of WTTC, he has taken the organisation to new heights, championing the private sector views in high level governmental discussions and promoting the sustainable growth of travel and tourism. “It has been a privilege to lead WTTC, representing the global interests of the private sector of Travel & Tourism, through advocacy with governments around the world. The membership of the organisation has doubled in the last period, but more significant has been the work with governments at all levels on the key strategic issues for the sector,” said Scowsill. “By making this announcement now, the Executive Committee has time to identify a successor and to work through a smooth transition in leadership. Working with a very talented team, we have consolidated the position of WTTC as the authority in the sector, whether through research, advocacy, or the impact of the Global Summits. I now look forward to focussing on new opportunities, knowing that I am leaving WTTC in great shape.” David Scowsill has been President & CEO of WTTC since October 2010. Amongst the highlights of his time, the public/private partnership with UNWTO has produced 84 meetings with Presidents and Prime Ministers, where messages about the importance of the sector have been directed to these key leaders. As founder and Chairman of The Global Travel Association Coalition, he ensured that the travel industry spoke to governments with One Voice on the key issues – from travel facilitation and terrorism, to infrastructure development and environmental …

TAAI Office bearers were recently invited to visit Kunming, Yunnan province, in China and had meetings with top Chinese government officials. “Yunnan province is an excellent location to have TAAI Convention. The Managing Committee will be meeting soon to discuss various offers available with TAAI and decide on the next convention venue soon. The Managing Committee is keen to announce the Convention destination during May/June 2017. The Visit to Kunming yielded several surprises with the outstanding location that Kunming is and with the top quality venues,” said Bettaiah Lokesh, Hon. Secretary General, TAAI, in an official statement. The TAAI Managing Committee had its 14th Managing Committee meeting on board the Royal Caribbean vessel, Mariner of the Seas. The Managing Committee reviewed the approval of TAAI’s application to Income Tax Authorities to grant Section 80G.”The Managing Committee committed will go all out to offer scholarships to meritorious students who are pursuing their education in Travel; Tourism & Hospitality Industry. TAAI’s 80G will also support CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) participation. Several Members of the Managing Committee offered their contributions to commence this most important task of offering scholarships,” Bettaiah said.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) will be organising its 2017 Convention in Ras Al Khaimah in September. Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI, and Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development, signed a MOU for the same at the Ras Al Khaimah Roadshow in Delhi. Sahni said, “We are going to have our convention most probably from September 12-14 in Ras Al Khaimah. The dates are tentative and will be finalised soon. We will be coming out with more details about the convention very soon. Our intention is to introduce new markets to the tour operators so that they have another destination in their kitty, which will add value to the already existing markets that they sell. If one looks at the numbers, there is a big gap between Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, and we are looking at utilising that for the benefit of the tour operators so that they can extend their tours to this destination, with an added cost.”

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) is exploring legal remedies with regards to the recent ban on sale of liquor. Speaking at the occasion, Dilip C. Datwani, Vice President, FHRAI, said “Rs. 200,000 crores loss to the exchequer and closure of more than 1 lakh establishments is not a small thing. We would not have minded being sacrificed if the ban were to yield results. But reality is that all the job losses and other damages would be wasted. The object sought would not be achieved”. “Total consolidated loss to both States and to the industry will be around Rs. 220,000 crores. The entire MICE industry including weddings, corporate events will be negatively affected,” said Garish Oberoi, VP, FHRAI. “There has been an unprecedented blanket ban on all national highways across the country without seeing the practical aspect of the topography & terrain of the cities, in the process having affected hotels and restaurants, who have invested crores of Rupees towards the development of the tourism industry in the country. For example, Darjeeling, which falls on NH 55, has hotels stretched over 77 kms from the very base of the town of Siliguri that are directly affected,” further continued T. S. Walia, Vice Presidents, FHRAI. ‘The judgement has effected those establishments that operated legally and we are not takeaways and serve for consumption in premises only. Many entrepreneurs who have taken loans will be placed at a disadvantage. It will make their properties non preforming further ‘continued S. M. Shervani, EC Member, FHRAI.