Team For Change has promised to implement the much delayed amendment in the constitution of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), if voted to power in the forthcoming elections of the apex body.
Lally Mathews, Managing Director, Divine Voyages who is contesting for the post of President said, “In order for IATO to become a more inclusive association, it is important that regional chapters have better participation. If voted to power, we will work towards the amendment of IATO’s constitution in the next 6-8 months. With the amendment of the constitution, every region will be represented by a Vice President in the Executive Committee. This way different regions can highlight their issues in a much better way.”
Team For Change, a group of candidates, who are contesting the elections under one umbrella while addressing a media conference highlighted that the IATO in its present avatar has confined to become a ‘pocket’ organization. The amendment of IATO’s constitution has been in limbo for the last 6-7 years.
“We need to increase the base of the IATO’s Executive Committee. Why should it be limited in the vested interest? I believe that the Executive Committee of a large organization like IATO should be 5-8 percent if not 10 percent of its overall base. There will more involvement, transparency and representation in such a manner. We can’t allow IATO to be run as a pocket organization,” said E.M. Najeeb, Chairman, ATE Group of Companies who is contesting the election for the post of Senior Vice President.
IATO has at present 1700 members pan India out of which only 351 are active members. As per a spokesperson of Team For Change, the last Managing Committee of the association had demoted about 42 members from Active to Allied status, citing their failure to comply with the Ministry of Tourism’s criteria for a recognized tour operator. However, IATO’s constitution has no provision to demote the level of a tour operator’s membership neither recognition from the Ministry of Tourism is a criteria to obtain active membership, said a representative of Team For Change.
“We need very effective sub-committees that should be given a free hand to work in their respective areas. Our focus has to be on implementing steps that can help our members to increase their business,” said Rajesh Mudgill, Managing Director, Planet India Travels who is contesting for the post of Honorary Secretary.
Many candidates of Team For Change were against the idea of IATO joining the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), when the umbrella association was formed a few years ago. They echoed that even though they will continue to support FAITH in the larger interest of the industry, the impetus will be on projecting IATO as a standalone powerful inbound tourism association.
“Our representation in FAITH has to be effective. If voted to power, we will send a member in FAITH who is a ‘real’ tour operator and understands our issues,” said Mathews.
As part of its manifesto, Team for Change has promised to waive annual membership fees for 2020-2021 and consider extending the waiver further if the inbound business does not gain momentum. Other focus areas will be to try through Ministry of Tourism for soft loans at low-interest rates for IATO’s membership, complete transparency at IATO’s office and women representation in EC. Team For Change has also assured that it will follow up diligently with the Ministry of Finance regarding the release of SEIS scrips for 2019-2020.
“Apart from financial assistance, the government can support the tourism industry through steps like offering some incentives to educational institutes for conducting educational tours. There are 1.5 million educational institutes in India. Even if 10 percent of these institutes opt for educational tours, tourism will flourish. We have to focus on domestic tourism till the time inbound tourism is not back on track,” said Lajpat Rai, Managing Director, Lotus Trans Travels, who is contesting for the post of Vice President.
The other members of Team For Change includes Sunil Mishra (Cosmos Tours & Travels) who is contesting for the post of Honorary Treasurer and Sanjay Razdan(Razdan Holidays) who is contesting for the post of Honorary Joint Secretary. Arun Anand (Midtown Travels), Harish Mathur(Concord Travels & Tours), Ravinder Kumar(Indian Legends Holidays), Tony Marwah(Indian Travel Promotion Company) and Vishal Yadav (Incredible Destination Management Service) – all contesting for the posts of EC Members – Active. A. Aarif(Parveen Travels) and P. Vijayasarathy(Benchmark Hotels) are contesting for the posts of EC Members – Allied.
The elections to decide the new leadership of IATO for the term 2021-2023 is scheduled on March 6.