At the recently concluded elections of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) in New Delhi, Ravi Gosain was elected as the new President.
In a sweeping win for his panel, all Executive Committee members fielded by his team secured key positions, signalling strong member support for their vision.
Joining Gosain at the helm are Rajnish Kaistha as Senior Vice President, Sanjay Razdan as Vice President, Sunil Mishra as Honorary Secretary, and Deepak Bhatnagar as Honorary Treasurer. Viney Tyagi will serve as Honorary Joint Secretary. The Executive Committee also includes Rajiv Mehra, who will now serve as Immediate Past President, alongside members Harish Mathur, Manoj Kumar Matta, Rishi Kapoor, Sejoe Jose, Tony Marwah, Ashok Dhoot, P. Vijayasarathy, and Wasim Shaikh.
Expressing gratitude for the members’ trust, Gosain emphasized that the new leadership’s immediate priority is to work closely with the government to ramp up global promotion of India as a travel destination.
“With foreign tourist arrivals declining, it is crucial to revive aggressive participation in international travel marts and roadshows. We also urge the reinstatement of familiarization (FAM) trips for foreign tour operators, travel bloggers, and media to showcase India’s diverse tourism offerings,” Gosain said.
He further underlined the need to revive the long-stalled Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) scheme, which, he argued, is essential to support small and medium-sized tour operators in their overseas marketing efforts.
“Our vision is to create a stronger, more inclusive IATO that not only champions our members’ interests but also helps position India as a leading global travel destination,” Gosain concluded.