Holds its National Joint Council meeting in Gujarat
The new Team TAFI India, held its first National Joint Council (NJC) meeting at the Gift City Club Gandhinagar, Gujarat wherein the National Managing Committee and the Chapter Chairmen & Secretaries from all 11 Chapters were present. This was a fully interactive meeting where every participant was given time to speak and everyone was involved actively in all discussions and strategies.
Before the meeting, TAFI invited the members of the Gujarat Chapter for an interaction with the officials of Gujarat Tourism and the national Managing Committee. Manish Sharma, Chairman of TAFI Gujarat chapter delivered the welcome address and thanked Gujarat Tourism for their ongoing support to the trade and the get-together of TAFI officials from across the country.
TAFI President Ajay Prakash accorded a traditional welcome to Jenu Devan, MD & Commissioner of Gujarat Tourism. He shared his vision of a resurgent travel and tourism industry as vaccinations picked up pace and the epidemic ebbed. The one positive that came out of the COVID-19, he said was that Indians began to discover India. He further congratulated the Gujarat government on the addition of Dholavira to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites and spoke of the need for responsible tourism, even more so in such ecologically sensitive sites.
In his speech, Jenu Devan spoke passionately not only about the well-known sites but also about the unknown and lesserknown tourist attractions of Gujarat. He invited The NJC to visit some of the nearby attractions on this visit and extended an invitation to TAFI to hold a convention in
Gujarat, promising to extend full support.
The NJC meeting was held the next morning at the Gift City Club. Ajay Prakash expressed his satisfaction with the excellent turnout and the presence of all Chapters. He outlined his vision of a strong TAFI where the Chapters were empowered to make decisions for the betterment of the industry and the membership was encouraged to communicate frankly with the elected officials at the Chapter or the national level. He reiterated the commitment of the National MC to visit every Chapter and interact personally with the members. He also spoke about the higher paradigm of tourism – which was to connect people across boundaries and promised to send over the IIPT Credo of the Peaceful Traveller, which he urged every member to adopt and display in their office.
Abbas Moiz, the General Secretary, thereafter proceeded with the extensive agenda which had members speaking and presenting ideas for trade betterment activities and revenue generation. A key part of the agenda was to understand the issues at the Chapter level and every Chapter Chairman was invited to report on their respective regions. For example, Ankit Bajaj - Secretary TAFI Gujarat with his team Ronak Shah, Dilip Masrani & Jigar Dudakiya presented a detailed chapter report and shared more than 15 points on the 3-dimensional growth of Travel Agents and TAFI. Anil Kalsi - National Joint Secretary listed his efforts of liaising with the Ministries and his meeting with MoCA as a part of increasing strong relationships with all Government authorities.
The ‘Gift City Club’ turned out to be an excellent venue for the meeting. With spacious rooms, delicious food, courteous staff and overall elegant appearance, the Gift City Club is a very comfortable and appreciated venue. As a part of this event, Gujarat Team TAFI was able to arrange a VIP visit for the members to the Akshardham Temple after the meeting.