DRMumbai: Inaugurating the 34th Annual Convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) in Visakhapatnam, K J Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism (I/C), Government of India, said that the target of 20 million foreign tourists by 2020 is achievable for India. He said that the tourism sector has been performing phenomenally well since the last four years and grew by 14 per cent in 2017 over the previous year; receipts from inbound tourism grew by 19.2 per cent while the global tourism industry grew by a mere 5 per cent.
“But I am not happy at all because we can do a lot better,” the Minister said. “If all segments of the industry work together then the target of 20 million tourists is very much achievable.”
Speaking at the 34th IATO Annual Convention, the Union Tourism Minister said there was a need for better coordination among industry stakeholders
The Minister said that around 14.62 million additional jobs were generated in the tourism industry over the last four years. Alphons exhorted tourism industry leaders to attract Chinese and Buddhist tourists as they travel in large numbers and India has everything to offer them.
Speaking at the Convention, Rashmi Verma IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India, said that India registered a growth in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) of over 15 per cent and 20 per cent in forex earnings last year, which has been possible because of the partnership of government ministries and the private industry in the country. She urged the private sector to work in a concerted manner to achieve the target of 20 million inbound tourists by 2020.
According to Secretary Verma, many projects under the two flagship programmes Swadesh Darshan and PRASAD will be completed by December 2018. Thirty projects, she said, will be inaugurated under Swadesh Darshan adding that under PRASAD, many of the 25 projects undertaken were close to completion. An integrated marketing plan focusing on G2G (government to government), B2B collaborations and B2C activations has been initiated. She admitted that GST is creating a stumbling block for the growth of the industry. “But MoT is in constant touch with the Ministry of Finance to address the issue.”
Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, emphasised on the job creation and foreign exchange earnings potential of the tourism industry in his address. He said the industry must be more pro-active and it is imperative to focus on untapped and emerging markets. He also said that there exists a huge opportunity for promoting adventure tourism in India. “It is high time we tap that segment.”
Kadakampally Surendran, Minister of Tourism, Kerala and Bhuma Akhila Priya, Minister of Tourism, Andhra Pradesh were the guests of honour. Minister Surendran thanked the industry for their generous support during the recent floods in the State. He sought their support to revive tourism in Kerala. Minister Priya elaborated on the various tourism friendly policies and schemes of her government and welcomed investments into the State.
Mukesh Kumar Meena IAS, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Secretary and Himanshu Shukla IAS, CEO, AP Tourism Authority offered felicitations to the IATO delegates. The IATO Hall of Fame Award was presented to mountaineer Ajeet Bajaj who climbed Mt. Everest with his daughter Deeya creating a world record. The IATO Manual was released by Minister Alphons.
Rajiv Mehra, Vice President of IATO and Chairman of the Convention, welcomed the gathering and Rajesh Mudgil, Honorary Secretary, IATO proposed the vote of thanks.
IATO BRAINSTORMS ON KEY ISSUES
Keeping with the theme of the Convention – ‘Mission 20 million tourists’ – the sessions were aligned to bring out some core issues behind achieving this ambitious target, and how the trade can come together to make it possible.
With business sessions focusing on pertinent issues and presentations by tourism departments of various states, the audience was treated with intense discussions during the three-day Convention in Vishakhapatnam.
On September 8, the IATO Run for Responsible Tourism was held in the morning alongside the lovely RK Beach. IATO registered a record number of delegates this year crossing 900 members from across India.
The flagship session of the Convention was aimed to highlight the challenges of touching the ambitious milestone of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals within the next two years. Moderated by Arjun Sharma, Chairman, Select Group, the panellists included Rashmi Verma IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH & Executive Director, ITC Limited, E M Najeeb, Senior Vice President, IATO & CMD, ATE Group and Rani George IAS, Secretary, Kerala Tourism.
The panellists touched upon the ways in which the 20 million target can be achieved. Secretary Verma said, “The 20 million target is definitely achievable – there are no doubts about that. Of course, there are challenges but we have set up the inter-ministerial group which has been very successful in resolving issues which cannot be sorted by the MoT alone.”
This group includes the Ministry of Culture, Environment, Civil Aviation, External Affairs as well as Home. Verma added, “We also need to take a cue from the Kerala Tourism model which has worked along with the private sector to double their numbers.”
Another strategy that the panellists agreed on was for India to focus on the neighbouring countries such as China, Russia and Japan, and make India a short-haul destination while continuing to promote in the traditional markets of the US and Europe.
The second session brought together members of key hotel companies face-to-face with OTAs to discuss what both industries can do to help the other since it is getting harder and harder to do business, whether it is the hotels or the travel trade. Homa Mistry, CEO, Trail Blazer, who was moderating the session, exclaimed, “Change, change, change is what we need. We also need to promote India in the summer season so that the hotels can fill their rooms during off season.” He indicated that in turn the hotels could continue to include the tour operators instead of going direct to customers.
An all women panel of Meenakshi Sharma, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, G Srijana, Joint Collector, Visakhapatnam, Roni Jorofi, Manager, Lagaat Behodu and Kaynat Kazi, India’s first solo woman traveller, moderated by Reema Lokesh, Editor, Express Travel World discussed the issue of safety. The women panellists spoke about their personal experiences that offer substantial evidence that India is a safe country for tourists. However, they did present ways in which the safety of women travellers could improve.
The panel discussion, moderated by Rajesh Mudgill, Secretary, IATO, and MD of Planet India Travels, had R H Khwaja, former Secretary Tourism, Government of India, Akshar Yadav of Centronics Support, Sudhir Patil, MD, Veena Worldwide and Dr. Manohar L Singhla of FMS New Delhi, deliberated on how to change one’s business to adapt to the evolving mind-set of today’s travellers.
Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Government of India addressed the gathering through a video message. He spoke about the Commerce ministry’s Champion Services Sectors initiative and the Civil Aviation Ministry’s UDAN RCS program.
A session beautifully moderated by Subhash Goyal, Immediate Past President of IATO and Chairman, Stic Travels, focused on the government’s UDAN RCS and how the airlines and the tour operators can symbiotically work together to drive affordable air travel across India. The participating airlines on this panel included low-cost carriers Indigo and SpiceJet. While both the airlines have introduced multiple routes under the UDAN RCS and continue to do so even today, travel trade representatives requested them to look at newer routes that have tourism potential as well and not just financial viability for the airlines. They also recommended some destinations that see a lot of tourist traffic already or has tremendous potential for it.
Panelist G K Chaukiyal, Executive Director, Regional Connectivity Scheme, Airport Authority of India (AAI) gave an elaborate presentation on the work that AAI has done and is currently focusing on to ready the airports under the UDAN RCS. While some airports are ready to receive flights, some are under development and a few others are in the planning stage.
Suman Billa IAS, Joint Secretary Tourism, Government of India, flew down specially for the IATO Convention to make a presentation on marketing strategy of Incredible India. One of the most pertinent challenges that was brought up by the members was on the issue of guides and escorts and the lack of skilled talent available for their foreign clients.
An interesting session that IATO Convention included this year was on the SEIS (Service Export from India Scheme) presented by Sangeeta Godbole, Director General, SEPC.
The valedictory session saw a panel discussion involving Satyajeet Rajan IAS, Director General Tourism, Government of India, Vasant Kumar, Vice Chairman, Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) and P S Naidu, Director, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.
Winners of the IATO Run for Responsible Tourism and best performers among IATO Convention partners from the media, airlines, hotels and state tourism boards were presented with awards.
The state tourism boards that presented included Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.
In between the state presentations and the panel discussions, the audience also took advantage of individual presentations on FAITH (Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality) made by Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH; an informative session on how travel agents can use digital marketing by Avijit Arya, Founder of Internet Mogul; and a session on forex management by S M Bharatwaj, Executive Director and National Head Liabilities, Standard Chartered Bank.
