TravTalk India Online Magazine
The office bearers and Managing Committee (MC) members of TAAI celebrate the success of the convention by opening up about the myriad offerings of J&K as well as the informative business sessions.
Nisha Verma
Sanjay Narula, Vice President, TAAI
With a renewed interest in Kashmir, I believe the opportunity is now available to everybody who is here and has not worked with Kashmir previously. We had a wonderful experience in working with the government here with their support. With the announcement of 2018 as the Visit Kashmir year, we are going to recommend that all TAAI member agents eagerly promote Kashmir and look at the pool of opportunities here. We will share lessons of the convention here and ensure that the B2B sessions actually get converted into business.
Jyoti Mayal, Secretary General, TAAI
I was disappointed to notice that they weren’t many agents from North India. Hopefully, we managed to steer clear of people’s doubts and notions about J&K. It’s important for any nodal association to get into the right states, regions and promote destinations in our country. Apart from declaring the Visit Kashmir Year, all of us including regional chapter heads, MC and office bearers of TAAI should have committed to send 10 families to Kashmir from our regions; and if we are able to do that, our commitment stands tall.
Imtiaz Qureshi, Treasurer, TAAI
We have received immense support from the Jammu & Kashmir government as well as our trade partners. With several initiatives up our sleeve, we have officially launched our mobile app for members during the convention for them to globally expand their business. We are concentrating on value adding to our members’ knowledge including technological hindrances, GST setbacks or any similar issues. We are also trying to increase their client base, and working out with various trade partners for a better remuneration for our members.
Rajan Sehgal, MC Member, TAAI
Out of the total number of delegates, about 25-30 per cent of attendees visited the state for the first time. These travel agents are majorly from the southern and eastern parts of India. After much brainstorming, J&K was chosen as the selected destination since we felt that the state needed a lot of positive support from the industry. The 600 delegates will now be ambassadors for the state and a strong message will be delivered across the industry about the beauty of the state as a tourist destination.
Bhagvan Ramnani, MC member, TAAI
With a constraint in five-star rooms, we decided we would not accept more than 400 to 450 people. However, the response was so much that we had to extend the limit of the delegates. The TAAI convention was held in Kashmir after 30 years and at that time, I attended it as a member in the same hall. The objective was to promote Kashmir as it has lost its charm and business alike. This convention will increase substantial opportunities for J&K tourism. Agents are aware that problems which are projected on television are actually not prevalent in the entire state.
Anil Kumar, MC Member, TAAI
We will aggressively promote J&K and increase numbers for domestic tourism. Having targeted 500 people initially, we witnessed a total of 650 registrations owing to demand. The challenge was to accommodate them within a limited time. SKICC was a great venue and offers great views. We have updated our website and are going to have a mobile app for members to have instant messages and information, without having to work on laptop or desktop. We are encouraging domestic tourism this year other than MiCE, leisure and corporate.
