TAFI regional bodies elect new chiefs

The Northern and Western India chapters of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) elected new teams recently. While Khushvinder Sarna, Director, Federal Travels, was re-elected as the TAFI Northern India Chapter Chairman for two years, Jay Kantawala is the new Chairman of Western India Chapter for the new term.

TT Bureau

The Northern India Chapter of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at The Park Hotel, New Delhi, on 10 July 2023.

TAFI Northern India elected Khushvinder Sarna, Director, Federal Travels, for the second term as the Chapter Chairman at the meeting. His tenure will be for two years (2023-2025). Sarna was elected over Ashwani Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Sheraton Travels.

Apart from Sarna, the new team of TAFI Northern India Chapter consists of Dinesh Kumar (Inter Airwings) as Secretary, Rajiv Agarwal (Hindustan Air Travel) as Treasurer and Naveen Gupta (Travelco) and Charu Arora (YTS Travel Services) as Committee Members. After his election, Sarna said, “I have been given a great responsibility again, as TAFI North India has chosen me as office-bearer. North India has 400 members and is the biggest TAFI Chapter and we aim to grow it further.”

He expressed gratitude to the association members of Lucknow, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and other chapters of the northern regions in India for their support. Talking about the challenges facing the travel industry such as weather conditions, high airfares, and manpower shortage, Sarna said, “We cannot do anything about weather, but rest of the challenges can be overcome. India’s travel and tourism sector has massive potential, and all travel stakeholders need to come together.”

While talking about the association’s initiatives, he said that TAFI will be taking up the pending issues with the government at different levels. “We are also trying to converse with other travel trade agencies and associations,” he added.

Sharing his priorities, Sarna said, “Focus on training, education, and knowledge sessions is of utmost importance in order to equip travel agents to fight challenges.”

Meanwhile, the TAFI Western India Chapter recently announced its new team that has been elected unopposed. Jay Kantawala is the new Chairman, Arun Iyer is the new Secretary, Dharmesh Shah is the new Treasurer and Satbir Singh Narula is the Committee Member. The announcement was followed by an intense session on Tax Collection at Source (TCS), conducted by Arjun Akruwala, who clarified a lot of the doubts in the minds of members. Speaking about the vision the new team will bring to the table, Kantawala says, “We have been on the committee for the last four years and so we will try to add value to the TAFI membership, so that they can gain more value by being members. We also want to ensure that we will continue to give them frequent updates on the industry – situations, events, issues, and updates on new products, and arranging for educational trips.” He added, “We also want to ensure that there is more participation from the members. We want to make this relationship more collaborative. We want to generate more ideas on how we can help the members tackle issues.”

Meanwhile, Iyer said, “As the new team, we had a discussion with the committee, and we want to give more momentum to the interactions that take place between our members. We also want to increase our membership and get more members from other sectors like hotels, wedding planners, and M!CE operators, so that there can be more collaboration between members and help existing members as well.”