Educational journey to Rann Utsav

In a first for any travel trade association, Gujarat Tourism invited TAFI Western India members for an educational tour to Rann Utsav – an event that is hugely popular with travellers. Chapter now has plans for more such tours to the state, keeping with its vision to promote domestic destinations.

Hazel Jain

Gujarat Tourism, for the first time in its history of educational tours, opened Rann Utsav to any Indian travel trade association and hosted members of the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) Western India Chapter recently.

Sharing details of the tour, Jitul Mehta, Chairman – Western India, TAFI, says, “We are fortunate to get complete support from Gujarat Tourism on this. The tour was a three nights, four days itinerary from January 27 to 30, with around 90 members. We initially planned this for the Western India chapter, but later decided that it was time to include other chapters as well. So, we invited Pune Chapter as well.”

The tour also included Ahmedabad (Heritage Walk, Gandhi Ashram). Mehta adds, “This study tour offered us a practical experience which gives us confidence to sell Rann Utsav and Ahmedabad as a destination. We will organise more study trips for all other state chapters in support with Gujarat Tourism.” The tour also included visits to both Tent City properties.

The team also interacted with Alok Kumar Pandey, the new Managing Director, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) virtually. The national TAFI team also joined in virtually.

“The new MD shared his vision and his pro-activeness in developing tourism in Gujarat and working closely with TAFI. Nirav Munshi, Manager, Commercial & Skill Development (Events, Tours, Travels and Hotels), Gujarat Tourism, also spoke to us about how we can take this association with them further and create more synergy between the two entities. This is part of TAFI’s vision to focus more on domestic tourism,” Mehta says, adding, “Gujarat Tourism has offered to host us on a study tour to Saputara in August. We need to plan the same. We are also discussing with other state and international tourism boards for other study tours.”

Manish Sharma, Chairman, Gujarat Chapter, TAFI, who was involved in the planning of this tour, says, “Gujarat is a very important destination for travel agents and tour operators. It not only has culture and history, but also new tourism products like Statue of Unity and new destinations that will appeal even to the youth. The Gujarat Chapter team proposed this tour to Gujarat Tourism and planned it as well. The new MD is active with the trade partners and understands the importance of their involvement in promoting a destination.”