Letter of Thanks to all members for their support in making the 36th IATO Annual Convention in Gandhinagar a big success
24th December 2021
To, All Members,
Sub: Letter of Thanks to all members for their support in making the 36th IATO Annual Convention in Gandhinagar a big success
Dear Friends,
This is to express our sincere thanks from the bottom of our heart to all our members who supported IATO by participating in the 36th IATO Annual Convention held in Gandhinagar from 16th – 19th December 2021 and making it a grand success. This convention was by far one of the best conventions of IATO as per feedback received not only from the members but few industry stalwarts who were present in the convention.
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel inaugurated the convention along with Mr. G. Kamala Vardhan Rao, Director General Tourism, Govt. of India and Mr. Hareet Shukla, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Gujarat.
We had senior government officials from the Centre in the panel discussions and in the valedictory session which includes, Mr. Rakesh Kumar Verma, Additional Secretary - Tourism, Govt. of India, Mrs. Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General - Tourism, Govt. of India, Mr. Rajiv Jalota, Chairman Mumbai Port Trust, Mr. Raj Muthuraj, Additional DG. Directorate General of Foreign Trade, & from the State Governments we had Mr. S.K. Srivastava, Dept. of Forests & Environment, Government of Gujarat, Ms. Shilpa Gupta, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, Mr. Manoj Kumar. Managing Director, Jungle Lodges & Resort, Govt. of Karnataka, Mr. G.S. Itoo, Director Tourism, Govt of Kashmir, Mr. Rajiv Jain, Addl. General Manager, IRCTC, Dr. Abhay Sinha, Director General, Services Export Promotion Council, Setup by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India.
Other eminent personalities on the panels were Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, IndiGo Airlines, Mr. Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC Hotels & Chairman FAITH, Mr. Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO, The Indian Hotels Company Limited, Mr. Anuraag Bhatnagar, Chief Operating officer, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, Mr. Ajay Bakaya, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, Mr. C. A. Talati, Chairman SEPC, Setup by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India to name a few.
Business sessions were very fruitful and well attended. One of the achievements of the panel discussion in Business Session on “Hotels in the New Normal” was introduction of special rates for the IATO members tour operators and travel agents by the Taj Hotels with a Promo Code which was highlight of the session. This is being worked out by the Taj Hotels and will be announced by first week of January 2022.
Mr. Ashish Vidyarthi, famous Bollywood actor and motivational speaker was the Speaker in the motivational session, who inspired the members that we need to stand strong during these crises and look for the future opportunities.
On all the three days, we had good evening entertainment programmes with singers like Abhijeet Sawant, Jimmy Felix and Urvashi Arora and members truly enjoyed it with Karaoke singing competition.
The Leela Gandhinagar, Venue of the convention, was as imposing as its outstanding quality of hospitality. All arrangements including transport were perfect to order.
This year’s IATO Run was a great fun and all participants enjoyed morning cold breeze in almost zero pollution environment with AQl level below 50. Flag off was done by Ms. Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel, Silver Medalist in table tennis in 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics. She was also felicitated by IATO during the inaugural function.
Following the convention, 5 Post Convention Tours were organised and over 200 delegates explored Gujarat by visiting the places of their interest like Statue of Unity, Somnath, Dwarka, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Modhera, Bhuj, Patan, Little Rann of Kutch.
The basic purpose of having this convention was to bring our members come out of their house, relax their mind, interact with each other and rebuilding confidence. Having Karaoke Singing competition was to give an opportunity to the talented members to enhance their confidence, to perform on the stage.
We once again on behalf of the entire Executive Committee, thank all our members for supporting us in making this convention a grand success and we look forward to your continued support.
Look forward to seeing you all in Bangalore, Karnataka in September 2022.
Thanking you and with best regards,
Rajiv Mehra
President
E.M. Najeeb
Chairman Convention
Rajnish Kaistha
Co-Chairman Convention
Randhirsingh Vaghela
Co-Chairman Convention