The Eastern Region of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) is foreseeing an increase in both outbound and inbound tourism in this part of the country.
Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Anil Punjabi, the newly re-elected chairman of TAFI, Eastern Region, said, “In the coming years, we foresee an increase in both inbound and outbound tourism in this region, so we are looking at further improving our relations with the suppliers to negotiate and ensure that our members always get the best possible rates from the hotels, airlines, tour packages etc. We want to work closely with the stakeholders to promote inbound as well as outbound tourism in this part of the country.”
Bilolaksha Das has been re-elected as secretary and Pawan Kumar Khemka as honorary treasurer of the Eastern Region chapter of TAFI.
Punjabi stated, “Now travel and tourism business operates in a completely different environment. Technology has changed the entire dynamics of the trade. Travel professionals are no longer mere ticketing agents but are required to offer value-added services to the customers, so, we have to involve all the stakeholders like the airlines, allied members, hotel owners, the government and others to meet the varied demands of the new age traveller.”
TAFI’s objective is to increase foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) as well as domestic tourists in this part of the country. The association also plan to invite tourism boards of different countries to showcase their destinations in the form of roads hows and keep TAFI’s members updated with the latest product offerings and deals. The state tourism boards too will be invited to showcase the tourism destinations and products of their respective states.
The Eastern states of the country need further support from the government and other stakeholders to increase both outbound and inbound tourism. TAFI’s efforts will be to organise tourism exhibitions to promote and create awareness about new destinations and provide special offers to prospective clients.
“Efforts will be made to conduct familiarisation tours for the members so that they can experience a destination first hand and promote them better. TAFI Eastern Region also plans to hold a ‘Travel Quiz’ for the travel fraternity that will act as information as well as a learning session. Besides, we would work closely to keep our members updated with the latest information of the different verticals of the travel industry. We hope that these measures will help the industry to grow and will be beneficial for all our members,” he added.
