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The Official Voice Of ETAA

ETAA to hold its first convention

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Karl Dantas President, ETAA & Managing Director, Bombay Travels

The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA) is likely to hold its first-ever convention in November this year in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Karl Dantas, managing director, Bombay Travels and president of ETAA, said, "We have close to a 100 members and are growing. Through this convention, we not only want our members to explore a new destination but also work at the same time."

The convention was to be held in August but has been postponed indefinitely. Dantas adds, "Since the TAFI convention was around the same time and ETAA members are affiliated with it, we decided to postpone our convention indefinitely. We are now looking at November."

ETAA conducts quarterly meetings of its members in which they are often demonstrated new products and technology, have networking sessions with airline representatives and even counsellors. Their three-day B2B convention will have workshops and familiarisation trips across the host region. During this convention, "The delegates will attend a workshop organised by the North Sumatra Tourism Board, which would showcase the region. This would be followed by a small test based on the presentation and the members will be certified as experts in the region," said Dantas.

Dantas, known for his niche destinations like China and Turkey finds novelty in North Sumatra as well. He says, "Indonesia has a lot to offer besides Bali and Jakarta, and Medan has a lot of potential in terms of history, water sports and shopping. Furthermore, it even has a handful of Indians residing there. It is a great market to explore, not only in terms of outbound, but also the inbound tourists which will benefit the delegates."

Speaking about the low number of members associated with ETAA, he said, "We want to attract those retail agents who aren't affiliated with IATA and TAFI. There are about 20,000 such agents in the country and this convention will help us get their attention."