Her quintessential kumkum bindi and colourful bangles are her trademarks, which has instant recall value and makes it tough to forget her. However, after meeting her, you realise that while her “womanly” accessories are attractive, what is even more alluring is her brain – her thoughts and that loud confident baritone, which is never afraid to voice an opinion. Jyoti Mayal, Director, New Airways Travels (Delhi) Pvt Ltd and Hon. Secretary General, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) is a strong lady, with a clear thought process and a vision, which she believes can bring a positive change in the industry. It was indeed an intriguing experience interviewing her for our BOTT Spotlight and as always, she had plenty to share, besides her news of standing for the post of President in TAAI elections this year.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
One look at her and you would know she is a lady of good taste. Her perfect sense of style leaves you in little doubt of the same. After interviewing her I realised that it is perhaps because of her training in Interior Designing, which is what she was pursing and actively doing till “love” made her change plans. After her marriage to Balbir Mayal in October 1984, she started learning the nuances of the travel trade, but was not very active as kids and home front kept her busy. “Once kids grew a little, I started coming to office regularly and would accompany Balbir on all his meetings. I learned a lot from him – by just simply observing his way of working and style of functioning. Those were the times when there were only a handful of consolidators for ticketing in the North and we were one of them. For all the airlines, our company, New Airways Travel was amongst the top three performing agents. We had good volume business and thus shared healthy relations with all the airlines. Friendship was great then and both business and professional bonding was very different as compared to today,” Jyoti Mayal recalls about the good old days when agents and airlines were important for the other’s existence and relations were not scarred by issues of commission and taxes.
Once an active part of her husband’s business, Jyoti realised that she had the making of a travel professional and this perhaps has always been her calling. Soon she adapted the business and started contributing to it. She used to always enjoy TAAI meetings and interactions and it wasn’t long before she was formally inducted as the Chairperson of the Northern Region (2009-2013) and then becoming a member of the Managing Committee (2013 – 2017) to her current position of the Secretary General at TAAI (2017 – 2019). The time, she feels, is now right for her to stand and fight for the position of President in TAAI, however she doesn’t like the term “fight” as she believes elections should be amicable and just and not a drama for people to watch and enjoy.
“Sadly, many people in the industry have an agenda for the “chair”. They look at gaining a status, a recognition, through the post in an association. Ideally, it should be the other way – an influential person should be made the head so that he or she is able to lead the association in a good and positive direction – a person who is well-versed with the senior people at various authorities so as to be able to resolve an issue in the interest of its members. But sadly that is not how it works,” shares Jyoti.
She also feels that the status of associations are diluting with newer ones mushrooming up after every few years. The industry should act as one voice for the betterment of its people instead of staying busy in resolving internal politics. “We need associations as everyone cannot be a driver. But we need uniformity in all associations – they should work in tandem and act as one voice in-front of the authorities. Travel industry has still not got the status of an “industry” in our country, which should be a matter for concern for all of us,” says Jyoti, who feels strongly for the travel fraternity – the one that she is a part of.
TAAI in the last few years has done its fair bit for resolving the issues and grievances of its members. Issues of Joint Bank Guarantees, acceptance of Credit Cards of Travel Agents have been few issues that have been resolved by TAAI besides holding regular “Knowledge Forums” for its members in the metros as well as tier II cities. Jyoti personally feels that these Knowledge Forums are extremely important for the development of TAAI members as education is the only tool that can help them grow their business.
“Travel fraternity is changing. Those who are entering now are either knowledgeable or have enough money to appoint knowledgeable people for them. Travel agents who are not ready to change with time are fading out. They have to create their own market – their own niche. New destinations are coming in every day, but they have to create their own business model. OTAs have no doubt dented the travel agents, but it has been the same with almost all businesses be it retail or medicines. There is competition everywhere today and in every field. This doesn’t mean one goes out of business. We have to create our own value add that will force a customer to come to us for service,” says the ever optimist and realist Jyoti Mayal.
Jyoti, in addition to her roles at New Airways Travels and TAAI dons more hats. She has been successfully running an exhibition called “Jack and Jill: Wonder Years” for five years now. With a firm belief that everything starts young today, Jyoti gives an amazing platform to the young ones to play with their hands, experience long forgotten games and gain plenty of knowledge in the process. She has also been hosting the ‘Iconic Awards” for last 4 years wherein people, not just from the travel trade, but sectors such as fashion, lifestyle and more are recognised for being best in their particular field. In addition to his, she is an active member of FICCI FLO and is involved in plenty of initiatives for the empowerment of women in the country. In her capacity at CII, Jyoti is part of many skill development initiatives and holds various job fairs under it. Jyoti Mayal dons many hats and it is absolutely safe to say that she does complete justice to all of them, giving her absolute commitment to the cause and initiative.
