‘Challenges In The Time Of Boom’

The 21st IATO convention, slated for August 2005, is causing a stir in the industry. Vijay Thakur, chairman of IATO Convention Committee and VP of IATO talks to Jyoti Koul about its theme 'Incredible Boom, Incredible Challenges' and topics that it will touch upon .

What will be the focus of this year's convention?

The Indian travel industry showed a record growth of 18.6 per cent in tourist arrivals between January to June 2005, probably for the first time. So in order to sustain this boom and achieve the anticipated growth of 10 million tourists by 2010, our convention will look into the challenges and threats that lie ahead for the industry.

We want to provide a platform for market players to address various issues like shortage of rooms, over-rated hotels, unavailability of qualified language guides, lack of airport infrastructure, etc.

Which speakers are expected to attend the convention?

At present, we have got confirmations from the chief minister of Kerala, the tourism minister of India, and the secretary of tourism. We also expect about 1,000 delegates to participate in the event. The highlight of the convention, however, is expected to be the presence of the President of India but we have not received his confirmation so far.

What made IATO choose Kochi as the venue?

This convention is important because this will be the first time that we will highlight both the positives and negatives of the boom. The reason we selected Kochi is because it has good infrastructure for a convention. Secondly, it is IATO's attempt to promote and showcase the southern region through the event.