DRMumbai: The 34th Annual Convention of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will be held at Novotel in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, from September 6 to 9, 2018.
While announcing the decision of the Executlve Committee, Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “Vishakhapatnam was selected as the venue for the convention during our last convention in September 2017, headed by Himanshu Shukla, CEO, AP Tourism Authority and MD, AP Tourism Development Corporation.”
“This is a new destination, which we want to promote especially as MICE destination as it has a lot to offer. Since Visakhapatnam was once part of Kalinga territory, it is surrounded by ancient Buddhist sites, most of which have been excavated recently and illustrate the legacy of Buddhism in the region. It can attract a lot of Buddhist Tourists from all over the world. After the convention, there will be post-convention tours for the members.”
This convention is expected to further increase the international and domestic tourist arrivals to Andhra Pradesh, and boost economic growth and will create new jobs. “When we met the Chief Minister for an official meeting last year, we expressed our desire to hold the convention in 2018 in Andhra Pradesh and the CM immediately agreed to it and asked us to send the proposal. We were overwhelmed to see the passion the Chief Minister showed for promoting tourism.”
The Annual Convention will be held under the patronage of the Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu. The previous two conventions were held in Hyderabad in 1997 and 2003 and both these conventions were inaugurated by the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO, said, “We want to make this convention one of the best ever convention of IATO as we have the full support from the State Government and blessings of Chief Minister and Tourism Minister. The theme and the business sessions of the convention will be finalised soon.”
“We expect over 1200 delegates from all over the country, comprising tourism professionals, press and media and senior officials of Central and State tourism departments. Besides we will also invite state government to exhibit in the travel mart which will be organised coinciding with the third day of the convention.”
About 1O0 members of Travel and trade print and electronic media will witness the convention for all the three days. “IATO is one of the largest tourism association with membership of over 1700 leading tour operators, travel agents, hoteliers. All of its active members are inbound tour operators who are recognised by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Around 9O per cent of the foreign exchange being earned through tourism is earned by IATO members. Most State Tourism departments/tourism corporations are members of the associations and IATO is the think tank for the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and also the State Government.”
