While addressing the delegates at the 36th Annual Convention of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) in Gandhinagar Chief Guest of the inaugural function – Bhupendra Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat said that the association (IATO) and its members will have to play an important role in rebuilding tourism post pandemic. Therefore, the chief minister has assured to extend all the support to strengthen IATO’s effort in reviving and promoting tourism in Gujarat and across the country.
While elaborating on the tourism potential of the state the chief minister informed that bestowed with great geographical diversity, cultural heritage sites along with newly launched attractions i. e. Statue of Unity at Kevadia and robust connectivity from all major cities of the country, Gujarat is poised to become the tourism hub in the country for domestic and international travellers.
Patel elaborated on various initiatives taken by the state government to support the industry and its stakeholders post pandemic.
While addressing the delegates, IATO’s President briefed the chief guest about the importance and several activities, efforts being carried out by the association to revive the tourism post pandemic.
In his inaugural address IATO’s President, Rajiv Mehra said, “The convention will send a huge message abroad for people to visit India. I am quite hopeful that this impact will be seen sometime in February-March 2022 when we will get booking from abroad.”
“Third wave or no wave, it’s something we cannot say much about. So we decided to go ahead with the Convention,” said Mehra while explaining on organising Convention at a time when there is a lot of discussion about the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Basic purpose of having this Convention was to bring our members come out of their house, relax their mind, interact with each other and rebuilding confidence,” added Mehra.
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel inaugurated the convention along with G. Kamala Vardhan Rao, Director General Tourism, Govt. of India and Hareet Shukla, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Gujarat.
Longest serving President of IATO Subhash Goyal, Chairman Stic Travel and Mike Vaghela, Former Gujarat Chapter Chairman were bestowed with ‘IATO Hall of Fame’ award on the occasion. The Convention was attended by Senior Government Officials from Ministry of Tourism, State Tourism Departments, industry stalwarts and 600 plus delegates from across the country.
