The Senior Vice President & Chairman 32nd Annual Convention of Indian Association of Tour Operators Rajeev Kohli elaborates on the content of the convention which is meaningful and relevant to the basic business of the members. Based on his experience; the chairman convention has adopted several new ideas to make this year’s convention a real success.
Q. Well you will be leading another Convention as Chairman; what is your preparation for this year’s Convention?
A. I guess this year has been not too different form the past four. We have focussed on creating content that is meaningful and relevant to the basic businesses of our members. We have a great venue for this year’s event and we are going to a city that needs to bring back leisure tourism to survive long-term. These add to the value of what we are doing as an association. We have brought in some great speakers on very special topics and I hope our delegates will walk away satisfied with the efforts put in.
Q. Is there anything new apart from previous Conventions?
A. As we have stated, this year we are experimenting with some changes to the format of our annual convention. Adopting best practices from other global associations, one fundamental change we have made is to take some of our session time into a private zone only for our Tour Operator/Travel Agent members.
All Active members are automatically registered for this afternoon. As we recognise we also have many Tour Operator/Travel Agent members in the Allied category, they will be eligible as well. Why we have done this is to allow us a private space to deliberate on topics specifically of interest to the businesses of this specific member segment. This half day session will be on September 18th at the ITC Grand Chola.
The present plan is to divide the afternoon into 3 broad tracks of discussions. Each segment will be manned by some experienced members to help guide the discussion. This is not a presentation or a seminar but rather meant to be an interactive discussion format to help us create plans for IATO and our members to address these issues. This afternoon is not a discussion on IATO operations but rather will focus on core issues affecting our businesses.
Q. What is the theme of this year’s convention; what message the association would convey to its members as well as the stakeholders of this industry?
A. The theme is most apt. We see so many figures in the press on how inbound travel numbers are increasing and how things look so rosy. Yet the actual state on the ground is very very different. There is most certainly a disconnect in what the PR spin is and the reality. The past few months have seen a tremendous amount of chatter at various platforms on the conditions of the Indian tourism industry. Emotions have been varied, from bewilderment to anxiety, from optimism to despair. Our members and non-members alike are struggling at various fronts. Taking cue from what conversations have been going on, we think a most appropriate theme for this year’s convention is – Expectations and Reality: Bridging the Gap.
Why? Because what we as an industry expect from our various influencers and decision makers of tourism policy seems to be quite distant from what the reality is on the ground. Because what we as stakeholders are witnessing in our businesses on a daily basis is very different from what gets projected in the media. We have a few choices – sit, watch and continue to complain or actually stand up and collectively work on a plan to change our destiny and bring back the industry to the glory at which it once stood. What we do is upto us.
We need to explore why do official numbers say one story yet the actual occupancy figures of tourists and actual business done by our members just don’t add up. How can the government claim so many successes when our industry is on the brink of financial disaster? That is the story this conference will explore.
Q. You have been attending the National and International Conventions/AGM’s/Global Conferences world across; do you feel any difference in such events as compare to our conventions and all?
A. This is a very good question. I have been attending international conferences and events for 22 years. I actually find such participation to be a fundamental part of becoming a better professional. Unfortunately, most conferences in our industry end up either being social events or being too generic in their content. One never stops learning. One never stops becoming a better professional. That is why my focus as the designer of the content for this and the past four IATO Conventions have been on imparting basic education and skill building that will help the smallest and the largest of our members alike in building their businesses.
Our stakeholders need to balance the time they learn and the time they have fun. Unfortunately, I find that some members just want to party and pay little attention to what is going on in the sessions and end up being disruptive. I think we as IATO have made good progress in adapting international best practices. We still have some ways to go, but we have the collective intention to do so. That is why you find the attendance of our annual convention growing year after year.
Q. Have you ever tried to implement any activity in terms of topic discussion and knowledge enhancement, based on your experience from such events?
A. Absolutely; all my planning is based on what I have experienced in my real life. More importantly, the ideas I have come out of the challenges my company faces every day and what I hear from friends in the industry face. I do not wish to organise sessions that talk about abstract broad issues. We need to be granular. We need to be specific. So that is why you will find the session following many issues that the members are talking about in their everyday lives.
Q. You have re-stored people’s confidence in such meetings (especially IATO) after Mumbai Convention-which was a huge success; what else can make IATO Convention further interesting and fruitful event?
A. Every year we try to do something new or different. In Delhi we brought in an expert on Health. One year we brought in stand-up comics to make people’s spirits feel better. This year we have the new core member’s day. So change is a constant process and we always try to improve on what we have done in the past. Moving forward, I am going to propagate that IATO create a full time events team to allow us to better focus on delivering world class events.
Right now we are reactive and we need to be more proactive. We need to broaden our base and get more people talking about the issues that matter. The IATO Convention needs to be the place where people debate, deliberate and come up with solutions that help the industry grow as well as be a place where we can let our hair down and have fun.
