The newly elected Vice President of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Sanjay Narula, Managing Director Apex Travel & Tours comes with host of ideas and dedication to work for the betterment of the association and its members. Developing an effective communication with the government, strengthening relationship with the business partners and working towards greater respect for travel agents and tour operators of the country will be high on agenda.
Q1. Since you have received an overwhelming support from the members; what are your plans to meet their expectations?
A. Definitely the members have entrusted our team with a responsibility by this overwhelming show of love and support in a very keenly fought election. I am indeed very grateful and take this opportunity very seriously. As a premiere travel association of the country TAAI has a lot to do; for a start – we have to create an atmosphere of trust with each member that whatever we do is in the best interest of our members, and we will work towards greater respect for each and every travel agent/tour operator in this country.
We have to collaborate effectively with all stakeholders to make sure that our interests are protected. We are such a large association that our (TAAI) members cover almost 80% of the tourism products distributed in India, and we have to make it count.
Q2. How do you look at overall growth of travel agents’ fraternity in India?
A. Travel agents play a very important role in movement of tourist from one place to another. Our (TAAI) members dominate the space as the ticketing agents of airlines and outbound /inbound tour companies in India. So being such an important component of travel and tourism, the travel agents have a host of opportunities and a bright future. However, there are some challenges that need to be addressed. The newly elected Managing Committee of the association is committed to support and educate our members to compete with the challenges.
To start with, we have to get complete clarity on the GST (Goods & Service Tax) including several amendments proposed in last few months. The association (TAAI) was in forefront in addressing the issues by conducting presentation by experts in the field for our members to consume the extensive information available and implement it correctly in their offices. Even after six months of GST rollout we are meeting with our members regularly. As we know this is the biggest tax reform in the country and a lot of issues required clarification even today, but the start has been good and the efforts made by us were much appreciated by our members.
Secondly, in an attempt to strengthen our relationship with our partners be it airlines, hotels, tourism boards, government, trade fairs organizer etc. we will make sure that they have proper access to our members so that we can give our best or vice versa.
Q3. What’s your take on the current policies of the Government from travel agents’ perspective?
A. In an attempt to get the proper attention we are very keen to develop an effective connection with the government. We are coming with a strategy to have regular interaction with the officials to present our views and interest in the government policy making. Since we are making all our efforts to get ‘Industry’ recognition for our businesses the association is developing a relevant framework for the same.
Q4. According to you which are the top challenges (in front of travel agents) that need to be addressed?
A. Our best facilitator i. e. the internet is our boon and bane as well. While it has made our lives and work really easy at one hand, the transparency it offers made difficult to earn our margins at the other hand. The service and cost associated with the interaction that our members offer to the customers need to be recognized and rewarded suitably. We hope we can move forward on that aggressively.
Q5. Would you like to share some ideas that can be introduced to take TAAI to the next level?
A. We have created various Councils to look after each activity which effects our business. The Airlines Council will seek regular interaction and discussion to address our member’s issues. We as office bearers are having an APJC meeting shortly; we are looking at reworking the members default insurance programme.
The Allied Services Council will effectively engage to bring better coordination with Ministry of Tourism and all the Foreign Missions to create an effective outreach with the Visa Programme operators such as VFS and the like.
We will be reviewing our co-operation and the MoU’s with the various tourism boards and look at increasing our efforts in this space and creating an opportunity of seeking new enhanced bilateral agreements to seek two-way traffic, create destination training programmes etc.
