TravTalk India Online Magazine
Varanasi emerging as one of the key pilgrim centres in the country after opening of Kasi Vishwanath Corridor by the Prime Minister and spurt in tourism activities in the area prompt ADTOI to add new chapter in Uttar Pradesh, With this, the association adds to its strength in the country.
Janice Alyosius
ADTOI launched its 12th Chapter in Uttar Pradesh on cruise in Varanasi. The initiative supported by the Uttar Pradesh Tourism saw presence of Avinash Chandra Mishra, Joint Director, UP Tourism, and Amresh Kumar, Joint General Manager, IRCTC among others.
Speaking of the motivation behind the 12th chapter, PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, said, “There are constitutional requirements for launching ADTOI State Chapters on PAN India basis. We have members on pan India basis and as and when a particular state fulfills the requirements of a strong base to launch the Chapter, we initiate the process. Varanasi has emerged as one of the pilgrim centres and with the opening of Kasi Vishwanath Corridor by our Prime Minister there is a spurt in the activities of tourism in the area. Varanasi is also connected with Ayodhya making a pilgrim circuit for everyone to visit from all over the country.”
Rajesh Arya, Vice President,
ADTOI, said, “ADTOI is the only association for domestic tourism, as a pan-Indian association, it is our aim to increase the strength of our members by opening new chapters from time to time. Our aim is to provide our members with a platform to discover new opportunities for growth, to discover new destinations with the help of product knowledge, seminars, and educational tours from time to time.” The association officer-bearers work with stakeholders in the State and outside State to assist people to visit destinations in the State like Agra, Kushinagar, and Sarnath.
During the launch of the ADTOI UP Chapter in Varanasi, the association has nominated Sushil Kumar Singh as the Chairman, Abhishek Sankrit as the Secretary, Neeraj Kumar Neotia as the Treasurer and Sunil C. Gupta of Travel Bureau, Agra, has been nominated as the Advisor to the UP-State Chapter. The association also has a woman executive officer, Anamika Mishra. The new chapter will work with the stakeholders and take a lead in the promotion of tourism in the state. “In order to work with the stakeholders and industry, it will take the assistance of UP Tourism to assist in their endeavor to undertake promotional activities to promote destinations like organising study tours, road shows in other states,” Khanna added.
Speaking of future plans, Khanna said, “We have plans to launch chapters in other states too. Our members have suffered a lot due to pandemic for the last two years. Hopefully, with support of the government and people we shall see the way forward.”
ADTOI is also working to promote women in the industry. The association recently held a webinar on women empowerment, where all the female members joined to discuss the involvement of women in the travel trade, shared Arya.
