With IATO election just a fortnight away, initiatives to reach out to members are intensifying. ‘Team for Change’, led by Divine Voyages’ Lally Mathews, former Hony. Secretary of IATO, organised an interactive press session in the national capital on Wednesday to highlight their message, manifesto and short-term and long-term plans for members and the association.
Talking about his team Mathews says that ‘Team for Change’ can work for a better and effective IATO for members and bring the necessary change at the earliest. He says that if elected he would like to enact key reforms which will strive to make IATO a more relevant trade body and also a helping hand which is always available for its members when needed.
“Once I am elected, the first thing I want to do is constitutional amendment which we started in the 2013 but it has not been done till date. With the constitutional amendment you will see lot of the changes coming in; for instance, MoT recognition is must for an active member as per the present constitution, which I don’t agree with. I want to remove all the lacunas in it and want to make it easy for the active members to continue as active” says Mathews.
“Secondly, I am always for the members – especially the smaller and the medium ones. I would like to continue to help the members, be of some assistance to them. This is the period of crisis after the pandemic, membership fee is not a big amount but still it’s a big money for certain members; so we want to waive it off for the year 2021– which was the year most affected when members had no business and we will monitor the position for a couple of more months till August or September and if inbound business does not come we will waive off the fee for next year as well,” he added.
“I feel more transparency is required in IATO workings. Therefore, I want to make EC meetings live. I intend to open the doors. Members have elected you as their representative, so let them see,” added Mathews.
According to E. M. Najeeb who is the candidate for Sr. Vice President’s post, amidst the pandemic all other sectors convinced the government and got some kind of relief for their respective businesses whereas tourism got nothing. He says the team will make ensure that larger benefits come to the industry. The team will work towards survival of the employees – especially during the time of crisis, one such we faced recently.
Lajpat Rai, candidate for the Vice President’s post feels that the industry should work as a one team. “If we all are together the government will listen to us. If not, nobody is going to care for you. We should ask the government to form such policies which are beneficial to the industry,” he said.
Rajesh Mudgil, the outgoing Hony Secretary and a candidate for the same post says that IATO is losing its grip on the MoT. Now is the time, IATO should move from its existing way of working. IATO should look for collaborations/tie-ups with international associations. He feels that the association needs to increase its base, and people will join only if there is a synergy between the people and the organisation.
Other candidates are Sunil Mishra for Hony. Treasurer and Sanjay Razdan for the post of Hony. Joint Secretary. Arun Anand, Tony Marwah, Vishal Yadav, Harish Mathur and Ravinder Kumar for EC Active and P Vijaysarathy and A. Aarif for EC Allied.
Short/Long Term Goals
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Closer working relationship with MSME’s related to finance & Credit issues faced by small and medium tour operators
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Take up the issues of revival of business in the absence of inbound traffic with persuasive opening of VISA and international flights through ministries.
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The need of conducting workshop for members to look at Domestic Tourism & Outbound business.
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Conducting workshops to closely help those Co-agents of IATO who are not into it, as yet.
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To closely liaise and coordinate for this with ADTOI as well as OTOAI for developing more synergy amongst sister associations.
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Waiving of Annual fees and subsidizing Convention Cost for Members in essential. The team shall be looking at larger aspects to help small and medium Tour Operators.
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Work towards finding tangible solutions towards revival and survival of tourism while assisting our member to get out of Financial Stress.
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Would ensure to rigorously follow up with the Government and various Ministries on quick release of SEIS.
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Find newer ways to create Bank Guarantee cushions to assist Small Operators.
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Would cohesively work with Ministries &Govt bodies to work out an insurance cover age for the industry.
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Would work effectively with other ministries too in the related areas of Commerce, Finance besides our nodal Ministry of Tourism to find more ways to raise assistance for our members.
