ETW Staff– Mumbai
In accordance with the UK Government’s agenda for India as a priority market, VisitBritain has announced the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UK and Indian Trade Associations.
The MoU between India and UK includes;
The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) and Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), signed by Karan Anand, relationship head, ETOA India and M Iqbal Mulla, president, TAAI;
The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), signed by Karan Anand, relationship head, ETOA and Praveen Chugh, vice president, TAFI; and
Outbound Tour Operator Association of India (OTOAI) and UKinbound, signed by Guldeep Singh Sahni, president, OTOAI and Ashley Jones, board member, UKinbound
Commenting on the announcement, Sandie Dawe, chief executive, VisitBritain, said, “As per our latest data, VisitBritain is more than likely to surpass its ambition to attract 425,000 visits from India by 2016 – worth £380 million in annual visitor spend. The Indian travellers visiting Britain last year were not deterred by the falling value of the rupee against the pound, which closed around INR 100-level for the first time in history in August 2013.”
This is the first ever MoU between UK and Indian trade associations to enable a positive business environment for the travel industries of the two countries.
The signing of MoUs were witnessed by Sir James Bevan KCMG, British High Commissioner to India and Sandie Dawe, chief executive, VisitBritain at the VisitBritain stand at SATTE, India’s biggest travel exhibition, in New Delhi.
“India is one of the priority markets for VisitBritain and we are committed to strengthening the links between British and Indian travel and tourism industries. This strategic engagement between the two trade associations is aimed at closer collaboration to significantly benefit the travel industries of the UK and India,” added Dawe
Sir James Bevan KCMG, British High Commissioner, India, said, “Well over one million Britons and Indians travel between our two countries every year. The 9 per cent growth in the number of Indian tourists to the UK in 2013 shows that this relationship is going from strength to strength. I am delighted to see the enthusiasm of the British and Indian tourism industries to take this to the next stage and offer my full support to their efforts.”
India and the UK have been historical trade and investment partners. This is the first ever stand-alone participation by VisitBritain at SATTE with 19 UK travel trade suppliers. This Memorandum aims at defining the common territory between the associations, establishing a framework within which the associations can jointly develop, create programmes and address issues.
