Trevor Rajaratnam elected to...
The Extraordinary General Assembly and Annual General Assembly of the United Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA) were held recently in Istanbul, Turkey.
Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka (TAASL) President and Travel 7 (Pvt.) Ltd Executive Director Trevor Rajaratnam was elected as a Board Member of the UFTAA. This is only the second time a Sri Lankan has been elected to the board of UFTAA.
In the 1960s, at the dawn of
mass tourism, a few tourism professionals with great foresight saw the need of a global umbrella organisation of travel agents associations, hence the Universal Organisation of Travel Agents Associations (UOTAA) was formed on November 22, 1966, in Rome, which was later renamed as the United Federation of Travel Agents Association, with Giuliano Magnoni of Italy being the first elected President.
As a globally recognised body, the UFTAA is the longest established negotiating partner with the leading travel and tourism organisation in the world. Of special importance is the close co-operation with the IATA, representing the interest of individual travel agents and as a partner in the IATA – UFTAA Training Programme.
The UFTAA actively has been and still is a spokesperson for the agent’s interest. It offers to its membership the valuable opportunity to be involved with the UFTAA’S networking global platform in order to support good health of the travel and tourism industry.
The TAASL, the national travel agents body in the country, founded on October 22, 1974, is affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and represents the interest of 154 outbound travel agents.
The TAASL also has representation on the governing board of the Sri Lanka Tourist Development Authority and Sri Lanka Institute of Tourist Hotel Management.