Prasenjit Chakraborty - Mumbai At the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) national elections held today in Mumbai at ITC Maratha, Sunil Kumar has been elected as President for the 2024-26 term, with Lokesh Bettaiah joining him as Vice President.
Kumar secured 306 votes to win the elections.
Shreeram Patel will now be the Honorary Secretary, and Paras Lakhia has been named as Honorary Treasurer.
The other two contenders for the President’s post were former President, Jyoti Mayal (177 votes) and Harmandeep Singh Anand (286 votes).
The newly-elected Managing Committee members are P Lalith Kumar Jain, Hema RV Chander, Sameer Karnani, Rajan Sehgal, Manav Soni, Gopal Unadkat and Amish Desai.
The elections for the national office-bearers and Managing Committee was held after concluding the 73rd AGM of the oldest and largest association of the travel agent fraternity in India.
Speaking exclusively to TravelBiz Monitor, Sunil Kumar, the newly elected President, stated that his priority will be a “member-first” approach. “All our programmes will focus on members, and we will begin identifying challenges that we can overcome together,” he said. “I have a very good team, and we will work collaboratively.”
Kumar expressed his gratitude to members from across the country for their confidence in him. “Though I am returning after five years, I will strive to continue the goodwill that was established earlier. The members believe that I can bring the changes they anticipate.”
When discussing the biggest challenge in the industry, Kumar emphasised the need to ensure that the growth of the tourism industry is directly proportional to the growth of individual travel companies. “I assure you that we, as a team, will be visible in the industry through our actions,” he added.
