TravTalk India Online Magazine
IATO’s Committee for Education and Skill Development recently organised a training seminar for the beginner staff of its member agencies to help them tackle the challenges of the tourism industry.
Kuku Kumar, Chairperson, Committee for Education and Skill Development, IATO, stressed that this programme will help the new entrants in the industry. “The two day programme had 26 participants, who will be imparted skills needed in this industry for the growth of tourism and which will help them not only in their personal growth, but for the growth of the industry as well as the organization where they are working.” Zia Siddiqui, Member, Executive Committee, IATO, said that the programme is the need of the hour. “We have discussed and decided that there is a lot of competition in various forms in the tourism industry in India. So, we thought we would upgrade our man power and offer professional guidance to the entire trade fraternity. To face the competition and the digital boom, we have to start from the grass-root level and hence we started this programme.” Kumar said that this would definitely help IATO members as they would get a better-trained staff. “It would be advantageous for the students to learn from experiences of people who have already been in the trade for several years,” she claimed.
Naveen Chibber, General Manager – Tours, Orient Express Travel & Tours, also lectured students on one of the days. “Every youngster getting into the tourism industry wants to earn big money. However, it’s not easy. We have gained experience for 30-40 years in the industry and have overcome many problems and issues. A programme like this offers a great opportunity to learn about the industry and what kind of problems tour operators faced earlier. Today things are easy, we have the support of NTOs in imparting knowledge to the agencies. Earlier information had to be collected. Students will learn from experience. We are focusing on that. Young minds are malleable, and this is the right time to impart this knowledge,” he said. Siddiqui said that apart from this, they will focus on teaching them time management, team building as well as insights on hotel and tour operator relationship. He added that they are looking to organise such seminars for the middle level executives, as well as Directors and Vice Presidents of the member companies. “Also, this training will be organized every month, or even twice a month for one year. Not only in Delhi-NCR, but we are also thinking of taking it to South, West and even East India, if we have a strength of around 20 students,” he informed.
Back to School: The training will be organized every month, or even twice a month for a year, not only in Delhi-NCR, but also in South, West and East India, if the student strength is around 20.
