The 62nd Convention of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) was recently held at Bali International Convention Centre (BICC), Indonesia from March 26-28, 2015
The convention had three evening events – inaugural, Namaste India dinner and the gala dinner in addition to the business sessions, the India Travel Trade Expo (ITTE) and the pre-post tours. Speaking about this year’s convention, Sunil Kumar, chairman of the 2015 TAAI Convention and acting president of TAAI, stated, “I have been closely associated with over 10 TAAI conventions either as the Convention chairman or Convention co-chairman or an office bearer or a member of the managing committee – but the Bali Convention was certainly very special and rich in content. Every event of the Convention was superbly crafted. The Convention witnessed plenty of activity, amazing ambience, incredible partnerships and importantly pleasant memories for our delegates to take home.”
The three day ITTE exhibition featured over 50 stalls, which were laid out in the foyer of BICC offering delegates opportunities to strengthen their network and establish new partnerships. ITTE was inaugurated by Amarjeet Singh Takhi, consul general of India for Bali. ITTE brought the delegates closer to various opportunities to support outbound from India to Indonesia. The exhibitors included tour operators, hotels, among others. India inbound was also well showcased.
Business sessions
Rich content and a variety of speakers from seven nationalities, were some of the highlights of the business sessions at the 2015 TAAI Convention. Some of the speakers at the TAAI Convention included Ashwini Kakkar, past president – TAAI & executive vice chairman, Mercury Travels, Brad Edman, ex director of sales & marketing, SE Asia & GM – Courtyard Seminyak, Karan Anand, head, Cox & Kings, Dhananjai Saliankar, regional director, South Asia, Starwood Hotels, Marius Dogeanu, Manager – NDC, IATA – Asia Pacific & Singapore, Sandeep Dwivedi, chief commercial officer, ITQ – Galileo, Rajiv Jakkula, vice president, Bird Group – Amadeus, among others. TAAI presented “The KNIGHT of Knowledge” plaques to the speakers. The formal inaugural was followed by cultural performances and a gala dinner.
NAMASTE India
With a firm belief that Indonesia’s large population must divert their attention to visit India, TAAI presented ‘Incredible India’ through an audio visual presentation. His Excellency Gurjit Singh addressed the Namaste India dinner and spoke about India and TAAI. The director general of Tourism from Indonesia, Esthy Reko Astuti also shared her impressions.
