Category Archives: Associations

Rajiv Mehra, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has made an appeal to all its members and all the tourism professionals to get themselves, staff and their families to register on for Covid-19 for vaccination. While requesting the members and others, he mentioned that it is very important for all of us in the tourism and hospitality industry to get ourselves and staff vaccinated at the earliest possible and once the vaccinations is done, same should be conveyed to all your counterparts/foreign tour operators to create confidence amongst them that vaccination programme in India is going on in full swing and all our staff and the frontline workers  i.e., airport representatives, drivers, guides, escorts and tourist felicitators, hotel front office, reception and restaurant staff, etc. have been vaccinated.    

With the financial security renewal of IATA-accredited agents scheduled for 30 June 2021, the IAAI director board recommends GoLite accreditation to travel agents in India after doing an extensive study on the IATA accreditation services. Since the IFCO TOKIO General insurance company withdrew their insurance guarantees for travel agents, the IAAI director board studied various services – Standard (with and without Easy Pay) Go Lite and Global (multi-country) regarding its application, facilities and benefits. In the absence of an insurance guarantee, agents’ are forced to provide a bank guarantee or Joint Bank guarantee under travel associations, which are more expensive than the existing insurance guarantee system. Through virtual meetings, the IAAI director board has considered the various aspects that constrain agents’ survival. It feels IATA Standard Accreditation is a ‘white elephant’ in the present economic turmoil and frustration due to the pandemic situation for most of travel agencies as they are SMEs. A travel agent has to annually spend around USD 783 for IATA Standard accreditation and using BSP link facilities in addition to the financial guarantee and other expenses. Biji Eapen, President of IAAI, says, “In the present scenario, this expenditure may not be a viable business solution for most of agents in India and foreseeing that the present pandemic situation may continue much longer and delay in the redemption of international flights may take 2 years or more to reach the level of pre pandemic situation, IAAI National committee would like to suggest IATA Accredited Travel agents to convert their accreditations to GoLite accreditation. Even though it curtails credit facilities, it drastically reduces overall costs and empowers IATA Accredited Agencies to survive this unprecedented difficult situation.” Eapen adds, “Since …

TK Jose, CEO of Jose Travels, has been re-elected as Chairman for the Madhya Pradesh chapter of TAFI for the term 2021-2023. The election was conducted through an electronic voting process owing to the pandemic. “We will collectively work for the betterment of our chapter and will take up various issues faced by our travel fraternity with the concerned department or airline,” Jose said.

The World Committee on Tourism Ethics, an independent body under the aegis of the UNWTO, met recently to assess the implications health certificates might have on tourism ethics. The Committee has recommended that COVID-19 certificates for international travel must be free, universally available and non-discriminatory. They must also be limited in time and use, it says.

At FITUR, the international Spanish tourism trade fair in Madrid from May 19-23, UNWTO will ensure sustainability, innovation and responsibility are a central part of the conversation. The hybrid event will celebrate the diversity of the award-winning ideas for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and the people behind them.

Prateek Hira has been appointed as the Chairman of FICCI Tourism Committee, Uttar Pradesh State Council. Prateek Hira brings 27 years of experience in the tourism industry and expertise on the subject with many tourism researches to his credit. The committee shall advise the government of Uttar Pradesh primarily on the issues plaguing the tourism industry and will work closely with the government of Uttar Pradesh to revive tourism in a time-bound manner after the present situation of pandemic eases. A detailed white paper will be presented to the government that will enlist the measures required for the earliest revival of tourism. The government of Uttar Pradesh has resolved to create employment opportunities through tourism and make tourism a key driver of growth and FICCI through its Tourism Committee under the chairmanship of Prateek Hira will be a catalyst to make this happen soonest.

Prabhulal Joshi, President, Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA), believes the industry is looking at another year of losses due to the second wave of infections. “Post October, things had picked up, bookings had started for the April-May holiday season. But everything now has again come to a standstill. The combined loss to the industry is estimated to be nearly Rs 200 crore,” he says.  

In a marathon session fielding member queries, Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, urged everyone to register themselves on the Ministry of Tourism website. She said, “Agencies who don’t do this may not be allowed to call themselves a travel agent.” The association has also written to MoCA to help resolve matters with Air India bookings multiple times, and has sought an online appointment directly with the PM.

The IATO Executive Committee recently reviewed and restructured the IATO Regional and the State Chapters to expand its wings and strengthen its membership base in Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu. In continuation, IATO has further expanded its wings by appointing Co-Chairman and in-charge in various states and union territories. Rajasthan being a large state with a strong membership basis was considered to have a Co-chairman and Mahendra Singh of Holidays N Vacations, Jaipur has been appointed as Co-Chairman of Rajasthan. It was for a long time in the mind of IATO EC to have a Co-Chairman of Uttar Pradesh who should be based in Varanasi, keeping in view the importance of Varanasi as a big tourist attraction,  both for international and domestic tourists and Bhuvanendra Vikram Singh of Prime Value Tours Pvt. Ltd has been given this responsibility. Sikkim being a prime tourist destination needed a Co-Chairman, keeping in view the distance between North Bengal and Sikkim.  Namgyal P Sherpa of Namgyal Treks & Tours, Gangtok has been appointed as co-chairman to assist the Chairman of Sikkim and North Bengal Chapter who is based in Siliguri, Darjeeling. Similar is the case of Andaman & Nicobar and Mohamed Jadwet has been appointed as Co-Chairman in Andaman & Nicobar to assist the Chairman based in Chennai. Besides the above, two-state in-charge have been appointed in Manipur & Tripura to assist Chairman of IATO North East Chapter and H Radhakrishna Sharma, of Seven Sisters Holidays and Soumen Dutta of Hindustan Tour & Travels have been appointed State In-Charge of Manipur and Tripura respectively. Rajiv Mehra, President of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) expressed his happiness and mentioned …

IATO Executive Committee has relooked and restructured its Regional and State Chapters to expand its wings and strengthen its membership basis. Separate chapters have been created for Uttarakhand and Ladakh with Nidhish Sharma, Managing Director, Garhwal Adventure, Dehradun and Tsering Namgyal, Managing Director, Windhorse Expeditions India, Ladakh being appointed as Chairman for Uttarakhand and Ladakh respectively.