UFTAA Congress TAAI salvages an otherwise tame affair

The Indian attendance was thin perhaps because everyone’s September calendar would have been full what with TAAI and IATO within a few days of each other followed by UFTAA. about a hundred international agents registered at UFTAA this year. the uftaa congress would have been a relatively tame affair were it not for some valiant efforts from Rajji Rai and sanjay narula.

The inaugural ceremony witnessed the presence of a number of tourism visionaries. Present on the dais were: Praful Patel, minister for civil aviation GoI; Joe Borg Olivier, chairman of UFTAA; C V Prasad, president TAAI; Praveen Chugh, president TAFI; Biji Eapen, president, IAAI and Rajjinder Rai, chairman, Indian Managing Committee, UFTAA Congress.
In his welcome address, Prasad urged the visiting delegates to visit the famous tourist attractions of Delhi as well as the rest of India to make their visit even more memorable. The chairman’s speech remained focussed around the theme of the Congress – "UFTAA Experience – 40 Years of Dynamic Professionalism". Olivier emphasized that the convention was meant to tackle issues head-on and make decisions in following an innovative approach. Speaking on the occasion, Praful Patel, the chief guest, said that the government had committed to providing all facilities for the growth of tourism and the civil aviation sector. Welcoming UFTAA delegates on behalf of TAFI, Pravin Chugh said that it was fortunate that Delhi had been chosen for the special UFTAA Convention. Biji Eapen opined that travel agents needed to be alert and vigilant to protect their interests and should maintain a balanced relationship with the GDSs and the airlines.
The inauguration ceremony remembered UFTAA’s founding member Jimmy Guzder’s important contribution. On his behalf, his son Cyrus Guzder received a token of appreciation. Thereafter, Amitabh Kant made a presentation outlining the government’s effort to build the tourism infrastructure before the audience.
The second day of the UFTAA Congress started with a business session which dwelt at great length on ADM (Agency Debit Memo) issues. The session was addressed by Sampath Kumar, chairman of TAFI’s Karnataka chapter, Birger Backman, senior advisor of UFTAA, C V Prasad and P K Gupta, regional director of Air India. Members discussed the ADM crisis which has become a global problem. Abusive ADMs result in extra charges being placed on the consumer. In particular, some airlines seem to have adopted the idea of advertising low fares, only to slap 'penalty charges' on consumers later, via the travel agents, to make up for their reduced revenues. Backman announced that UFTAA was planning to circulate guidelines to its members, which would assist agents in recognizing when they were being issued with an illegal ADM, as well as how to effectively deal with dubious ADMs. The association will also create its own database of ADM abuses, it was announced.
The second business session underlined the need to impart training to travel agents to make them more adaptable with the rapid pace of change taking place in the global tourism sector. The session was addressed by Lars Karlberg, director of the Travel Education Centre of Sweden, William Tan, president of Singapore’s National Association of Travel Agents, Biji Eapen, President of the IATA Agents Association of India and Carol-Anne Cairns of Skills Development Solutions, South Africa.
Moderating the session, Karlberg said that there was need to initiate more programmes to train travel agents, beyond the IATA-UFTAA training courses. Tan emphasized the need to develop an integrated course module incorporating solution to various problems being faced by travel agents. Eapen pondered over the lack of specialized courses for aspiring travel agents. Cairns presented the training programmes in the South African scenario and informed the audience that tourism was the one sector targeted for growth in South Africa.

WORLDSPAN to open 14 offices in india

Bullish on the growing online travel market, Calleo Distribution Technologies, Distributor of Worldspan in India, has chalked out its India expansion plans.
After its official launch on May 17 this year, Worldspan is going headlong into expansion. "We are in the process of opening 14 more offices by March 2007 and have already shortlisted sites in Mumbai, Jalandhar, Chandigarh and Bangalore. The Mumbai office will be operational by September. After setting up these offices, we will focus on Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad," said Raj Makhija, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Calleo Distribution Technologies.
When asked about the progress made since it launched operations in India, he said, "It is just the beginning. We have already signed MoUs with 150 agents in Delhi in just three months. We are also in discussion with agents in Mumbai. Our aim is to achieve 10 per cent market share in India after a year of operation".
Approximately 70,000 hotels, 33,000 car rentals and 500 airlines worldwide partner with Worldspan to provide travel services as well as manage travel information. 64 per cent of all global online bookings pass through the GDS and around 70 online agencies have access to the inventory, reservations and ticketing of leading travel suppliers worldwide via Worldspan, Makhija said.
Also, Worldspan is the only major GDS provider that does not compete with agencies as a travel retailer, therefore, serving as a dedicated and intently-focused technology partner for travel agencies.
Worldspan signed a five-year global distribution agreement with US Airways. Through the agreement, users of Worldspan will have the opportunity to access all US Airways published fares and inventory including web fares available on its own site and through third parties.
Calleo is handling the distribution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Australia and New Zealand as well.

Madhya Pradesh to emerge prominently as a major tourist destination

A lot is being said and written about the state. A new campaign was followed by jingles on FM drawing the tourist to MP for diverse holiday experiences. Despite the hype, Madhya Pradesh’s Tourism Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, is keen to share the ground reality.
In an effort to boost the tourism sector in the state, the state’s tourism ministry is in the process of reviewing the existing tourism policy and is also planning to introduce a new hotel policy for the state. "The world is changing fast and there is a need to review the current tourism policy to make it more suitable keeping in mind emerging trends in the tourism sector," Tourism minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia declared. The new tourism policy will address issues related to infrastructure, taxation, medical tourism and other related areas. The policy will incorporate implementation measures to execute tourism-related projects within the given time-frame and will also focus on attracting private players to build the tourism infrastructure of the state.
The government will also introduce a new hotel policy to develop the hotel infrastructure of the state. "Both these policies will be approved within four months," Scindia added.
The tourism ministry is working on developing the ‘Narmada Circuit’ as one of the major tourist hotspots in the state. "The Narmada Circuit could ever be our USP," she said. The proposed circuit will cover a 1,200-km-stretch in MP starting from Amarkantak and will go on to Dindori–Jabalpaur–Hoshangabad-Nemawar-Omkareshwar-Maheshwar-Barwari. To be christened ‘Narmada Parikarma’, the circuit should undoubtedly strengthen the pilgrim and adventure tourism potential in the state.
Outlining the development plan for this circuit, Scindia said that the idea was to connect the entire stretch by land, water and railway. The Centre has, ‘in-principle’, agreed to sanction Rs 8 crore for the circuit this year and another Rs 8 crore next year for the Narmada Circuit train.
Apart from this circuit, the ministry is also planning to develop the existing forts of the state as tourist sites. "We are gathering information about the existing forts and their conditions from all 48 districts. We will try to develop these forts as tourist attraction centres," Scindia said.
The state tourism ministry is also in the process of signing MoUs to develop tourism infrastructure. "We have already signed an MoU with STOC to promote the state. Another MoU will be signed with Raj Express in the first week of October to run Volvo buses on 10 major tourist routes. The third MoU will be signed with the MP Flying Club to start MP Air. It will be a quasi-government body and will start operating with a six-seater aircraft to cater to the need of high-end tourists," informed the minister.
Scindia is making all efforts to improve the air connectivity in the state. "We have already gathered information from all 48 districts about the number and status of airstrips to expedite the issue of connectivity between destinations," she added. Air Deccan is awaiting permission to fly the Mumbai-Indore-Jabalpur and Ahmedabad-Indore-Nagpur routes, permission for which should be granted soon.
Rail links are also a focus and the rail link between Mahoba and Khajuraho will be ready by June 2007 which should enhance numbers to Khajuraho and the rest of the state as well. The Railways has also agreed, ‘in-principle’, to extend the route of the Taj Express to include Jhansi which will then offer better connectivity to Orchha and Khajuraho. Presently, it runs upto Gwalior.
The thrust is also on building better road infrastructure between the major tourist destinations to provide better connectivity as bad roads have been deterring tourists from coming to MP. The upgradation of roads is being executed at an expenditure of Rs 55 crores.
The tourism ministry is also in the process of inviting hoteliers to invest in building hotel infrastructure in the state.