Agents to get full picture

The western India chapter of TAFI wants to create a complete training session for its members where maximum stakeholders are present – the destination, visas, airlines, DMCs and hotels.

Hazel Jain

Jitul Mehta, Chairman, Western India, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), has said that the aim of the new team is to provide a holistic learning experience to its members during training and educational sessions they conduct. “We don’t want to bring just the destination or the DMC, but all of them together under one roof so that the agents get a complete picture of the destination and can network with all stakeholders at the same time and resolve queries of every kind,” he explains.

We want to bring all of them together under one roof so that agents get a complete picture of the destination and resolve queries of every kind

This initiative began in December last year. The team recently did an event for Dubai as a destination involving not just the tourism board but also airlines – five in all – as well as Dubai Visa Processing Centre. “We plan to conduct many such events soon. We also conducted a Chapter meeting recently where we mulled over a key issue that is plaguing our members – deep discounting by OTAs. We discussed how members can develop a more sustainable business  model for themselves in such a scenario. For this, we will also need to talk to the airlines as well as government agencies, and make a formal presentation. This will be done by our national body,” Mehta adds.

Meanwhile, the chapter is also talking to VFS for a training session in Mumbai.