|
City Roadshow- A Huge Success
New Delhi (28th January), Bangalore (1st February), Chennai (2nd Feb), Pune (3rd Feb), and Mumbai (4th Feb).
Its been one busy month of February for TAAI.! The Tourism Council under the aegis of Council Chairman Mr. Jagdeep Rikhy, (our Vice President) in association with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism ,Turkey, Turkish Indian Tourism Council and Turkish Airlines arranged roadshows in five cities in India namely Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune ending in Mumbai, drawing a huge amount of appreciation from members for making this much needed interaction possible. Ms Sevgi Boz of the Culture & Tourism Office of the Turkish Embassy in India was the dynamic figure spearheading her delegation from Turkey.
Titled as "Destination Turkey Workshop," the salient features were to enable Tour Operators to avail of this ideal opportunity to learn / upgrade their knowledge on the popular & fantastic destination Turkey. The detailed presentation by Turkish Tourism was an eye opener as it delved into the minutest details of the sights and sounds of Turkey. A one to one interaction with leading suppliers from Turkey was part of the workshop arranged specially for tour operators to learn all about the products and services being offered, something so very important that agents need to know in order to better sell the destination.
Beginning with the Capital city of Delhi where the workshop was well received by a crowd of over 100 participants who were of the opinion that Turkey as a new destination had a large role to play in the outbound sector.
“The objective was to educate TAAI members on a new destination, convince them to seriously look at tourism as a good revenue stream and display TAAI’s pan India strength to Turkish tourism and through them to other NTO's and to showcase to some non- TAAI members who attended the value add which our Association brings to its members.” Says Mr Rikhy happy that the programs have successfully achieved its objectives
And what did the members have to say about the workshops? Well, Priti Rao, Manager FIT Tours, Cox and Kings who was the first ( of the 180 participants) to arrive at the venue in Mumbai says “It was a very informative session of an upcoming destination. The workshop is a good pla tform for establishing new contacts and for networking with all the suppliers. I look forward to more such initiatives from TAAI. Turkey should highlight sightseeing options of its unknown locations such as Konya which many people may not have even heard of but is a very beautiful place.”
Lokesh Bettaiah, from Triway Travels, Bangalore, says “TAAI brought Turkey to the doorsteps of over 70 members. Turkey is a new destination for them and getting a deep insight into Turkey directly form the Turkish delegation was wonderful indeed.” So was the case in Chennai, with over 80 participants. Chairman Mr Christie Rajan was happy with the turnout.
In Pune, the Workshop attracted over 104 tourism professionals with travel staff of many non-TAAI Travel Agencies also attending the event. Mr Jagdeep Rikhy, Vice President TAAI facilitated the high powered visiting team lead by Ms Sevgi Boz of the Culture & Tourism Office of the Turkish Embassy in India, Mr Ersan Atsur, Hon Chairman of TITC and Mr Selim Ozturk, GM - Western & Southern India of Turkish Airlines. 18 tour operators, travel agents and hoteliers had come down from Turkey specially for the workshop. Mrs Amarjit Lidder, Chairperson, Pune Chapter TAAI, while initiating the vote of thanks drew attention of the gathering to the fact that this was a first of sorts, in that TAAI and the TITC had chosen to focus on a Tier 2 Class city along with workshops in some of the metros.
Turkish tourism has expressed their deep gratitude to TAAI for our support and have assured us of cooperation in all our future endeavours and to include us in all their activities in India. Those TAAI members who attended and were present for the entire duration of workshop will receive TAAI Training Credit Points which will entitle them to be a preferred partner for NTO’s for future promotions & fams. YEAR-LONG Celebration of “VISIT GOLDEN MAHARASHTRA YEAR” - Sanskrititoon Samruddhi...
|