E.M. Najeeb

Air Travel Enterprises

What is crucial for IATO at present is a complete change of team required in its helm of affairs, and it is very important for the organisation’s existence and future growth. The last time four of us were elected, we tried our level best to influence every major decision for the benefit of the members, but at the same time, a couple of things which we were demanding for the last several years could not be achieved. One example is that of the constitutional amendment which is pending for the last seven to eight years. We have been continuously demanding it, yet we could not do it even in this term because the present leadership was holding on to it.

Secondly, we have been demanding the waiver for the annual membership fees during the pandemic period because the members have been in real trouble and this has not been accepted at all. Talking about women’s participation in the IATO EC, that has also not happened. We wanted IATO to be a full pan India organisation with representation from every place, every segment, every sector, and every nook and corner of the country, but it is mostly perceived as northcentric. The leadership has been doing it intentionally because of their vested interest to keep it as a pocket organization.

This time, we have come under the leadership of Lally Mathews and have found new people, including youths, experienced people, and new faces from different sectors for the team. We want to bring the right combination of bright youngsters and experienced mature persons to fulfil our team’s intentions.

I have a lot of experience working in this industry from the last four decades, focusing in Kerala and South India as well as at the national level too. I have been on the national advisory committee of tourism with the UPA Government as well as the NDA Government. I have been functioning in IATO as well as several travel and trade organisations, and hence my expertise can be shared for the benefit of the members. Tourism is my passionate subject, and I would like to support my members who can survive and revive tourism in such extreme conditions and contribute to the economic growth of the country.

Lastly, I would like to say, we have always worked with the government, the state, as well as the central government for the growth of tourism and we want to work with the government in the future too. We want to partner with the government, to make them understand the importance of tourism and convince them to extend more financial support for the tourism sector in the coming days.