Tag Archives: CEO

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.

Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, CEO, Nepal Tourism Board, has said that their government may soon open land borders with India so that the number of tourists visiting can grow. “There are immigration points between India and Nepal near Darjeeling, Siliguri, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Bihar. I have suggested to the industry in India that they make land transport packages to Nepal,” he said.

Sharing details of the recent group tour that her company conducted successfully, Benazir Nazar, CEO, Akbar Holidays, says, “Our commitment to the client to operate a group of such size was a tough decision during these times. Our operational team in India made sure that visas and COVID tests were done on time, and we even managed permissions to operate charters.”

Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, said that there is a need for health passports, across the world, and that vaccination is not the only solution for travel recovery. “Health passports are not only about vaccination. Vaccination is not the only solution for travel recovery. Testing is also here to stay. It’s the combination of both—having the vaccine, having a way or mechanism to be able to track who is being vaccinated, when have you been vaccinated, what type of vaccine you’ve received etc. and the same things with testing. This is where the health pass is becoming critical for trans-border travel in the future. It’s important that moving forward, we have one standard protocols across the world for accepting testing.”

Speaking exclusively to TravTalk on the sidelines of the annual five-day global trade event ExploreGB, Sally Balcombe, CEO of VisitBritain, said, “We expect 2022 to be a stellar year. The event will see around 30 buyers from India this year and we are expecting huge numbers from India when international travel resumes. India is one of the fastest growing markets for us.”

In order to further strengthen domestic connectivity, IndiGo plans to initiate flights from seven new stations subject to regulatory approvals and slot allocation. Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo, says, “We plan to open Leh and Darbhanga in February, followed by Kurnool and Agra in March, Bareilly and Durgapur in April, and Rajkot in May 2021.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day North East Festival, Santanu Kalita, CEO, SpiceJet – Sea Plane department, said, “Sea planes can bring a revolution in the tourism sector, especially in the North East which is one of the most beautiful natural lands in India. We will reflect on the planned fly-scheme for Guwahati to Kaziranga to Dima Hasao, etc. We have sufficient eight months to set the fly-plan scheme which will result in flourishing of tourism in the region.” Kalita played a key role in getting the maiden seaplane service of the country off the ground in Kevadia, Gujarat.

‘Unlocking Nepal: Understanding Tourism Opportunities’ webinar is all set to take place today at 10:45am. Sharing information aboit Nepal at the virtual event will be Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, CEO, Nepal Tourism Board, along with Laxman Gautam, Officiating Director, Tourism Marketing and Promotion Department, Nepal. To register, email Jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com, or call +919650196532.

Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, has said that it is the importance of resilience that will be the biggest take away from 2020.  “We have always been told in the past to have a financial reserve personally as well as for the business, and till 10 years ago people said that thus one needs to save as reserve for 3 months, which later became 6 months, and then one year. However, in the current situation, one probably needs several years of reserve, to be able to sustain this type of crisis we are facing today. At PATA, we are very fortunate that we built a very strong reserve for the last couple of years, which allows us to sustain this crisis and for the foreseeable future. 2020 highlighted which I already knew and highlighted the importance of saving, to prepare us to be more resilient in the future because sadly this is not the only crisis we will be facing in years to come, but certainly it is the largest I have ever experienced in my life so far,” he added.

Alliance Air, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, has appointed Harpreet Singh as Chief Executive Officer. Among her many feats, Singh was appointed as the first woman commercial pilot of Indian Airlines in 1988. With the new appointment she has become the first woman to head an Indian carrier.