IATO push to Tamil Nadu tourism
The city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, played host to the 32nd IATO Convention.The annual event saw more than 1000 registrations and a host of dignitaries from across the country deliberating on issues such as taxes, growing inbound numbers among others pertain
Held at the ITC Grand Chola, Chennai, the convention opened with much aplomb with the who’s who of the travel industry in attendance. The convention was inaugurated by Thiru. Vellamandi N. Natarajan, Tourism Minister, Govt. of Tamil Nadu and Thiru. Pandiarajan K, Minister for School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare and Archaeology, Govt. of Tamil Nadu in the presence of Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism & Culture, Govt. of Odisha. Gracing the occasion from the Ministry of Tourism was its Secretary Vinod Zutshi; T.K Ramachandran, Principal Secretary Tourism, Culture & Religious Endowments Dept., Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of Tamil Nadu; Har Sahay Meena, Commissioner of Tourism and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, Govt. of Tamil Nadu and other dignitaries from various ministries, hospitality and travel industry. Welcoming the delegates, Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, said, “Tamil Nadu has all the ingredients to attract tourism. Tourism is one of the major engines of economic growth in the world and has exceeded the automotive and oil industry. We organise IATO Convention to allow members to get a first-hand experience of the state and educate them about the services and offerings. I hope after this convention, Tamil Nadu will experience the growth in tourism as well.”
Sarkar highlighted quite a few points for the government to focus on to boost the tourism in the state. He said, “There is a need for state-ofthe-art convention centres in Tamil Nadu, which can be developed under the PPP model. There is a huge shortage of tourist guides, especially when it comes to language efficiency. No vehicle permit is available for tourist vehicles, especially luxury cars and vehicles. We need permits for all kinds of vehicles and coaches.” He insisted that levying lifetime charge on tourist vehicles is unreasonable since they are not used the same way as other vehicles and can’t be used more than five years. Even tourist permit vehicles should be treated differently.
Listing a few more issues, Sarkar said, “We need international standard toilet facilities for tourists on highways, midways and important tourist places as well as proper parking of tourist vehicles at these sites. There is a need for a committee (in Tamil Nadu) to take forward important tourism related issues and solve them. IATO will be very happy to be part of this committee and give suggestions. Investment should be invited to make hotels in strategic tourist locations.”
On extra taxes levied in the state, he said, “Right now in Tamil Nadu, luxury tax on hotels is being charged on the published tariff, which should ideally be charged on the actual tariff and should not be more than 10 per cent.” He concluded by saying that IATO and its members would be able to better promote the destination to their clients as well as at international travel marts.
Thiru. Vellamandi N. Natarajan announced the path-breaking decisions by the Chief Minister (CM) of Tamil Nadu and her vision for tourism in the state. “The Tamil Nadu Government is giving major support to the tourism sector, which includes the CM’s Vision Tamil Nadu 2023, in which it has been mentioned that investment of ` 10,300 crore will be made into various projects to attract 1.50 lakh foreign tourists to the state. To achieve that, the government has announced a master plan for tourism development, which would include a number of schemes.”
Zutshi spoke about how they are working together to make policies and promote the country to achieve growth in inbound numbers. “The government is making positive changes and we are keen on implementing many movement oriented initiatives in the future. I am hopeful that the IATO Convention will come up with many innovative ideas and solutions to various problems that we can use.”
Odisha Tourism Minister Panda also addressed the gathering at the inaugural and revealed that they have proposed to IATO to host their next convention in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha next year, and the final decision will be taken very soon.
The travel trade community including hotels, tour operators, state tourism bodies, showcased their products at the Indian Travel Mart, which was organised on the sidelines of the event.