Work as a united force

By Karl Dantas
President, ETAA

The year 2007 has been a very exciting one. There have been many changes in the industry and in the structure of the way we do business. While online companies are becoming major players in the industry, domestic and international airlines have increased their frequency leading to more affordable, but competitive airfares, and more tourism boards have started their offices in India. This has led to an increase in sales missions/ roadshows to attend visiting delegations, which has helped us understand the product and also to meet overseas suppliers and hotel representatives without having to budge out of the country. The Indian economy is booming and this has enabled many more people to travel within and outside the country, while at the same time the rupee has become stronger, contributing towards cheaper passenger tours. We saw the emergence of a few more travel and tourism institutes, which eased the lack of trained manpower. At the same time due to higher turnover and better bottomlines, we could afford to pay higher wages and thus draw more people towards the travel industry. Quite a few international hotel chains announced their new ventures in India, which obviously created more job opportunities and more hotel rooms.

The government finally decided to privatise the airports, which was implemented in 2007, owing to which there has been some improvement in the working of the airports with better facilities. Despite lack of hotel rooms and high pricing, we received an upsurge in arrivals both for business and tourism. Some states started developing coastal tourism, whereas others developed the hinterland, which enabled us to offer more destinations to domestic and international travellers. The intercity rail services have improved and the booking procedure is far more organised than it used to be in earlier years, thanks to Laloo Prasad Yadav. Our tourism minister, Ambika Soni brought in new faces in the tourism department and new ideas that definitely helped increase the inbound business. Some countries have made their visa procedure easier and more accessible which helped us promote those destinations as an alternative to those that had made things difficult and cumbersome. The ministry of external affairs through the passport offices have made it simpler to obtain passports by enlarging the acceptance points i.e. at post offices, and some police stations and is in the process of even out-sourcing some of the work done by the passport authorities. It has made our job easier and perhaps if this trend continues and is implemented well, will be a big advantage, both to our clients as well as to the industry.

On the whole I would say 2007 has been quite satisfying for me as a travel professional and I do hope we see this trend continuing through 2008-09.

As far as foreseeing the future goes, at the outset, I hope that it will be an improvement over 2007 or that it will at least stay the same. We do hope our central government along with the state governments become more pro-active with tourism and make it a success by following some of the modules adopted by other countries that have surged ahead with their inbound tourism. Our government has to realise that in order to do this, they have to take the travel industry into confidence, besides giving us the status of industry, and they have to implement many tourism projects on a war footing. Having said this, we should not just expect government support but also think as to how the industry itself can be more pro-active in implementing projects on their own. I think the various travel associations need to come together on the same platform and find ways and means to do this, rather than individuals trying to implement on their own steam. Sadly, each association thinks that they are doing a good job on their own and are far more superior to the others and thus we do not move ahead. I appeal to the industry to finally get together, atleast in 2008 to work as a united and innovative force.

I expect and urge the various international tourism boards to prevail upon their respective governments to simplify the visa application procedure within the minimum possible time if they are serious about developing tourism in their countries. I am not advocating issuance of visa without the proper procedure or documents, but there is definitely a way to find a solution to this problem. I expect them to take the travel industry into confidence instead of creating visa-outsourcing hubs, which have created more of a problem than a solution, not to mention increasing the time taken. Another sad state of affairs is the airlines, which have become anti-agent. Gone are the days when we were taken into confidence and worked together as a team. New fares, taxes, etc. are brought into force and shoved down our throats without any consultation but at the same time we are expected to generate business, collect payment on their behalf and promote their products. I expect and appeal to all airlines to take a more reasonable view of this and be more accessible and interactive like the good old days when we worked as one family and sorted out any issue over a drink. I appeal and expect the tourism boards to take more agents from the industry on FAM trips, rather than the same companies and agents every year. If they actually do this I guarantee that they will see an increase in business and more travel agents becoming educated and informed on a first-hand basis about the country in question. My expectations of the industry will be definitely met if all concerned implement the above as soon as possible.

It is my dream to get the entire travel industry together. I have been working on this and till date have been able to form ETAA (Enterprising Travel Agents Association of India), which is the only representative of the non- IATA agents and TAFI together. I do hope that all the others will come together on the same platform, as this will ensure unity and help us deal with various issues as a strong force. I would like to see a change in the attitude of the airlines, government organisations connected with tourism, consulates and our own fraternity. This is not a show of criticism but one of solidarity, in my endeavor to bring people together to achieve the targets that we all dream of but have never realised, thanks to bloated egos. I hope my dream becomes a reality in 2008-09.