TravTalk India Online Magazine
With the association’s annual convention just around the corner, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) Maharashtra Chapter members are relieved that physical events have restarted after a hiatus. Jitendra Kejriwal, Chairman, IATO Maharashtra and Dadra, Nagar Haveli & Daman Chapter, shares more.
Hazel Jain
In order to orient and prep its chapter members for the upcoming convention at Gandhinagar, the Maharashtra Chapter of the IATO held a physical event in Mumbai. This was the chapter’s first physical event in the last two years. Sharing some updates from his chapter, Jitendra Kejriwal, Chairman – IATO Maharashtra and Dadra, Nagar Haveli & Daman Chapter, says, “We had invited around 135 members to come and interact with the National Secretary, Rajnish Kiasth, and VP from New Delhi. We have also invited Valsa Nair, Principal Secretary of Tourism and Culture Department, Maharashtra government and are awaiting confirmation.”
He added that more than 45 members from the chapter have registered for the 36th IATO Annual Convention to be held in Gandhinagar from December 16-19, 2021, and more are expected. The theme of the convention is ‘Brand India – The Road to Recovery’. There are six options for the post-convention tours that include various sites such as Ahmedabad city tour, Gandhinagar, Modhera, Adalaj, Statue of Unity, Patan, Little Rann of Kutch, and Bhuj. Registrations are still open.
Virtual sessions continue
While physical events have started, the chapter will continue its virtual meets. Kejriwal shares, “At the event, we also invited India Tourism to make a presentation on the advantages of registering with the MoT. Other than that, our team is also in dialogues with Chandrashekhar Jaiswal, Deputy General Manager, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), and Jayshree Bhoj, Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). Now that inbound tourism has started, we are talking to them to get more clarity on the process. We are also talking to them about website promotions.”
While India has started issuing visa to inbound tourists, Kejriwal says that his company has not received any bookings so far. “Due to the new variant, the queries have paused for now. However, some of our members have seen some bookings trickle in. We expect that between January to March 2022, which is peak season for the FTAs, we may get bookings. I understand that the visa issuing process is smooth so far and India is giving out some visas on arrival as well. We will know how the smooth the process is only later and that whatever was promised is being delivered,” he opines.
Other issues
He says that one of the main challenges facing his members are that of the monetary support of ` 10 lakh easy bank loans that was promised by the government of India. “This has not been made available to us yet. Also, while visas are being issued by India, there are no scheduled flights yet which has led to very expensive air tickets from our main markets of Europe, US, and Africa. This defeats the purpose of issuing visas for foreign tourists. We hope 2022 will see some inbound movement,” Kejriwal says.
