DRMumbai: As part of its promotional activities in India, Destination Canada has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) to jointly conduct presentation workshops for its members in seven cities.
Carl Vaz, CEO & Strategy Director, Destination Canada India GSA said, “We are extremely excited to work with Travel Agents Association of India across seven cities to popularize Canada as a Fall and Winter Wonderland destination. This second set of workshops follows on an extremely successful 10 city pan-India initiative conducted last year. Going forward, Destination Canada, Air Canada and the Canadian High Commission will jointly address TAAI members.” Vaz further commented, “Destination Canada will be exploring training workshops in Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata in the coming months along with TAAI.”
With Air Canada’s direct nonstop daily flights from Delhi to Vancouver and Delhi to Toronto (re-starting on October 3), and the winter seasonal Mumbai to Toronto, Canada is easily accessible.
TAAI was represented by Sunil Kumar, President, Sameer Karnani, Chairman, Western Region and Rajesh Poddar, Hon. Secretary, Western Region.
Destination Canada and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) have also signed an MoU to conduct ‘Destination Canada Product Training Program’ across India. The sessions will take place in Mumbai/Pune (15 October), Delhi (15 November) and Ahmedabad (22 November). TAFI was represented by Pradeep Lulla, Acting President, Rajat Bagaria, Joint Secretary, Zakkir Kalarikkal Ahmed, Immediate Past President and Sunil Chopra, Director – Industry Affairs.
An MoU with Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) has also been executed for holding sessions in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi. Destination Canada will also sign MoUs with Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) and Skål International.
The purpose of this activity is to engage with senior members of the retail chain (travel agents, tour operators, OTAs & event specialists) and provide for ideation on new product offerings serving leisure, luxury, MICE and special event segments.The trade associations will work with Destination Canadato identify suitable members for the IRCC’s (Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship of Canada) Preferred Travel Agents (PTA) program. “We have 42 PTAs currently in India and want to double it in a year,” informed Vaz. Presentations by Destination Canada, Air Canada and Canadian High Commission are part of the training sessions which will help enhance knowledge among members which in turn will help them align themselves with Destination Canada’s marketing objectives and create attractive itineraries and packages. “Our marketing goal for 2020 to look beyond the summer season and promote Spring (March-April), Fall (Sept-Oct) and Winter (Nov-Dec).”
In 2018 (January-December) Canada registered 14 percent YoY growth from India clocking 2,87,000 visitors. During 2019 (January to June)Indian arrivals saw double digit growth with May witnessing a spike of 21 per cent over same period last year.
