The recently concluded 35th IATO Convention in the city of joy, Kolkata was an immense success. The three days of convention were dedicated to discussions and deliberations on the theme of the year, ‘Is Tourism thriving? Challenges and Opportunities’. The stalwarts of the tourism industry gave important insights on issues such as GST, E-VISA, etc. and the need of the hour, which is to increase the footfall of foreign tourists in the country. Here’s a detailed look at how IATO augmented the flavour of tourism in the ‘Sweetest part of India’ – Kolkata.
Arushi Bajaj and Priyanka Saxena Ray
The 35th IATO Convention was held in ITC Royal Bengal, Kolkata, one of the recently opened and positioned as the most luxurious properties of South Asia. The convention took all the stakeholders a step closer to their aim of growing inbound and domestic traffic in the country while offering a closer look at all the potential opportunities in the sector. The insightful sessions carefully devised by the policymakers set a tremendous momentum in place, which in turn gave an impetus to the audience to network, connect and work together. The event, in all its glory, sought to take stock of the private sector involvement along with government participation.
The inaugural function took place at the year-old Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, Kolkata, which is a work of art and one of the largest MICE Venues in not just Bengal but all of India. The delegates were welcomed with welcome songs by Bouls of Bengal followed by the lighting of lamp and a welcome note by Debjit Dutta, Co-Convention Chairman of the Convention this year. Addressing the delegates and media, Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “We need to make unknown locations popular in light with PM’s vision to explore the unexplored destinations in India. Also, infrastructure needs to be developed in all such places.”
Mr. Atri Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary Tourism, Government of West Bengal, said, “We are fortunate to hold this convention in Bengal in these times of economic downturn. I hope this convention shall work as a solution and act as a game-changer and will help increase the growth of tourism in the country.” He further added, “There is still room for hope, now that tourism and hospitality are being promoted vigorously. We echo the concerns of the industry and we shall extend full support in development of tourism industry.”
Indranil Sen, Honorable Minister of State, Department of Information and Culture Affairs and tourism, Government of West Bengal, said, “Not just adventure tourism, entertainment tourism is also important, in fact, business tourism is garnering a lot of importance. MICE and business tourism is picking up quickly and Kolkata is mushrooming with hotels. Everyday Kolkata and Bengal is changing and it would be a dream to hold this conference in Kolkata every five years so that the delegates themselves can see the changes that have taken place every few years.”
Is Tourism Thriving? – Challenges and Opportunities
The Convention kick-started with much gusto as E.M. Najeeb, Vice President, IATO addressed the delegates saying, “Tour operators are facing critical issues and we need to think differently on how we can evolve, issues related to GST, which are being discussed for quite some time and the transport taxes, which needs to be reduced. To achieve the targets we should find the answers and solutions.” Anil Chadha, Vice-President-Operations, ITC Hotels, shared the opinion of the hospitality industry and emphasised on how tourism needs to grow in a collective manner for all its verticals to prosper together. “Tourism has to be an economic activity and we have a lot to offer to the tourists. The road ahead is challenging but challenges bring opportunities. Incredible India is one of the best campaigns and India is a land of Incredible outcomes and opportunities,” he said. Echoing his thoughts, Jyotsna Suri, CMD, LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group, shared, “The biggest challenge we are facing today in tourism is Connectivity and Infrastructure. We have airports, but we don’t have flights. We have the 4th largest Railway network yet we do no use it properly. We need more marketing campaigns talking about India as a safe and secure tourist destination – all these are areas where Government intervention is mandatory.” However, the icing on the cake was the views of Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India who though highlighted all that is good in India but also did not hesitate to discuss what needs to be improved. As she gallantly concluded “Tourism is growing, but not thriving, as there is so much more still to do.”
Impediments in Traditional Business
One of the most awaited and looked forward to session, which has also become a regular with IATO was the one that brings Hoteliers, Tour Operators and Technology experts together to find ways and means to address the impediments in traditional business practices. Moderated by Homa Mistry, CEO, Trail Blazer Tours, who had people in splits with his special pics and presentations, the session invoked relevant responses from the panel. Hoteliers such as Hemant Mendiratta, Senior Vice President, The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts; Abinash Manghani, Area Manager, ITC Hotels, Gaurav Singh, Cluster GM, Marriott International were of the common view that tourism should be promoted as an all-year activity removing these barriers of peak and low season. The focus must be to look at all-year round policies and initiatives, policies and packages should be developed keeping the same in mind. Ankush Nijhawan, MD Nijhawan Group of Companies, who was the one providing the “tech” angle in the session felt that the travel trade industry is still far from utilising technology to its optimum utilisation. “Technology is important today and growing at a very fast pace. If you want to scale your business, you will have to adopt technology.
Besides this, there were other interesting sessions on promoting ‘River Cruise Tourism’ in India, which is one of the most potential tourism wing and one that is hugely ignored. Discussions and deliberations also took place on how the “Young professionals today view Tourism” and what special are they doing to increase the size of the cake. “Experiential Tourism” is fast growing industry as there are more and more takers for the same. Rajesh Mudgill, Hony. Secretary, IATO, moderated this session and had an interesting set of panellists comprising Tejbir Anand, MD, Holiday Moods, Shobha Mohan, Founder, Rare India and more who talked on the challenges faced during offering an “experiential tourism” and their own strategy to overcome them. Another session on “Reinventing East and creating circuits beyond the Borders” was moderated by Debjit Dutta who dwelled in details on ways and means to develop tourism in East, which has such huge potential for this particular sector.
In addition to the sessions, there were some insightful presentations by various State Tourism Boards, such as, West Bengal Tourism, Gujarat Tourism, Rajasthan Tourism, Odisha Tourism, Uttar Pradesh Tourism, Jammu Kashmir Tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Rajasthan Tourism. However, the icing on the cake was the motivational lecture by none other than Chetan Bhagat, who elaborated on ways and means of hot to overcome the downturn situation in the present scenario and turn to positivity and successful business.
Valedictory Session
Addressing the delegates in the valedictory session, Mr. Prahlad Singh Patel, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Culture said, “I am happy to address the gathering without whom we cannot grow tourism. Today tourism is one of the biggest industries and we should not worry but ponder on the situation in front of us. In this changing times, we need to change our thought process. Pilgrimage tourism is a very important segment. We need to sit together and find ways to increase the tourism numbers.”
The takeaways from the mega convention shall enable the delegates to strive and implement new strategic policies for the year 2020.
