PATA India Chapter elections

PATA India Chapter held its 47th Annual General Meeting on December 19, 2017, at The Claridges, New Delhi. The event was presided over by Rashmi Verma, Chairperson, PATA India Chapter & Secretary – Tourism.

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Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, will lead PATA India Chapter as its Chairperson for the term 2017-19. Verma appreciated the role PATA plays and recognised its business development initiatives. She felt that in the years ahead, PATA should work more closely with the Ministry to promote tourism and bring greater value to its members.

PATA also announced its Executive Committee and Office Bearers for the term 2017-19. SanJeet, Director, DDP Publications, has been re-elected as the association’s Vice Chairman along with J.S. Taneja, MD, Travel Spirit International, as Hon. Secretary, and Vikram Madhok, MD, Abercrombie & Kent, as Hon. Treasurer. Runeep Sangha will continue as Executive Director, PATA India Chapter.

“We concluded, quite successfully, our 47th Annual General Meeting. I am very pleased to say that we elected an Executive Committee without the need to go into contest amongst members,” Sangha said.

Madhok pointed out that PATA India Chapter has 14-15 agenda for the year which comprises seminars, trade shows and industry updates. “We still have to finalise our plans. We were speaking about taking the Executive Committee meeting to another state because we haven’t had it in a while. Since PATA India Chapter is North specific, as most members are based in Delhi, it would be nice to engage with other parts of the country. So there was an active debate on whether to go to the North East, or South India to Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Goa. The objective is to engage the tourism bodies and understand what the states have to offer,” Madhok said.

Talking about new initiatives taken up by the association, Taneja said, “For the regional chapter meetings, we will be inviting PATA Chapters from neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, etc. We will be conducting a minimum of two roadshows in 2018 and the Government of India has been very supportive of that.