Prasenjit Chakraborty - Mumbai The bi-monthly meeting of TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India) Western region was held physically after a long time in Mumbai on August 20. The aim of the meeting was to apprise the members about the latest Visa norms for some of the European nations that opened their borders.The representatives of several airlines like Lufthansa, Air France, Vistara, IndiGo, KLM etc were present in the meeting. “Representatives from two tourism boards Switzerland and Atout France made their presentation and informed our members about latest developments from their sides,” said Jitul Mehta, Chapter Chairman, Western India Chapter, TAFI. Officials from VFS Global were also present in the meeting.
Talking about his priority, Mehta said that as destinations are opening up gradually, my responsibility is to ensure that each and every member is aware of the latest Covid-19 procedure and other related matters. “Our main focus is to coordinate with all authorities like tourism boards, airlines etc. and get the latest information from them and pass on the updates to our members. We have to make sure that our members are not confused and conduct their business smoothly,” Mehta pointed out. Members of the newly elected National Team of TAFI were also present in the meeting and shared their vision with the members. “We also felicitated our old national team and thanked them for their valuable contribution towards this association,” he said. Mehta also appealed to all members to register their companies with MSME and MoT. “In today’s context it is extremely important. We want the business of all our members to be protected,” said Mehta.
Meanwhile, Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, while speaking to TravelBiz Monitor on the sideline of the event, said that the new Managing Committee already swung into action. “Every member of the new MC is keen to bring a perceptible change in the association,” said Prakash. In this direction, they have formed 9 committees and each committee is headed by a MC member. Citing an example, Prakash said, “One member is heading a team which looks into Airlines and IATA related issues, similarly somebody is responsible for communication with the members.”
He also said that Anil Kalsi, Joint Secretary, TAFI, has been appointed as head of Govt Liaison Committee. “Our Joint Secretary Kalsi met V K Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation and brought up a range of issues pertaining to agents with him. He apprised the minister why a regulation is needed to protect our agents from the airlines. The minister gave a patient hearing and asked us to prepare a note on this and he will take it forward,” said Prakash. Besides this, the new committee also started its fortnightly newsletter which was not in circulation for a long time.
Another important initiative is the involvement of MC with chapter level, the aim is to bring better coordination. “We already held meetings with the Delhi chapter and soon will meet Karnataka and Gujarat chapters. The idea is to connect with them and get their views and implement them,” he said. “Going forward, we have to intensify our interaction with the ministry,” said Prakash.
