OTOAI expands its footprint

At the 6^th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Delhi, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) vowed to increase membership as well as organise training and educational programmes for its staff.

Nisha Verma

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) held its 6^th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in New Delhi recently, where they updated members about the activities held in the last one year and passed accounts for the same period. On the occasion, Mahendra Vakharia, President, OTOAI, said, “The aim of our 6^th AGM was to touch base with all the activities we have done since the time we had taken over in November and pass over the account of the last financial year. Apart from that, we discussed the way forward with members about how and what needs to be done next.”

Claiming to have seen a visible growth in membership as well as in earnings for the association, Vakharia mentioned, “In the membership, we have seen a growth of 10 per cent and in terms of accounts, we are showing a surplus. In fact, there is an increase compared to the last year. However, because it’s an advantage, we again want to drive it back to have more meetings and workshops with the members about using the funds effectively.”

All of us in the executive as well as core committee are trying to drive the membership. Interestingly, a lot of agents from Tier II  and III cities are becoming members

Talking about the membership drive, he said, “All of us in the executive as well as core committee are effectively trying to drive the membership by speaking to friends within the industry, requesting them, convincing them, giving them ideas, explaining about OTOAI and outlining the advantage of membership. Interestingly, a lot of agents from Tier II  and III cities are becoming members.”

The association is working towards organising various events and training programmes for the members, especially after a successful convention in South Africa in August. “The members were very happy with the convention as they got to experience the destination first-hand. We will continue to have members’ meet in another city, have presentations and workshops, and give back to the members whenever possible,” he claimed.

Himanshu Patil, Vice President, OTOAI expressed the need to empower members in every way. “It has always been our priority, not only to promote outbound tourism, but also to address the various issues that our members are facing. In the AGM, we discussed about organising training programmes for the frontline staff for day-to-day work, right from mails to how to communicate with agents,” he asserted.