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The conference of the Journey Brokers Affiliation of India, after an 18-year hiatus, is scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo from July 6 to 9 with over 700 individuals primarily from India, RRM Lilani wrote the report. The historic connection between India and Sri Lanka, spanning hundreds of years, provides to the importance of the 67th Conference of the TAAI. TAAI’s 2022 Conference, initially deliberate for April 19 to 22 in Colombo, was postponed as a result of political unrest and financial disaster however at the moment, as Sri Lanka is on its revival path, the Conference has been delivered to Sri Lanka to advertise a regional tourism community.
Sri Lanka Tourism mentioned that India continues to guide among the many high ten markets, with the variety of Indian vacationer arrivals anticipated to double by 2023. To advertise Sri Lanka’s points of interest, cultural worth, and journey alternatives, Sri Lanka hosts roadshows in India to create a optimistic notion amongst Indian vacationers.
In Colombo, TAAI, the biggest and oldest tourism company in India, is ready to showcase the theme of ‘Futuristic Give attention to Transcending Borders’ and emphasize Sri Lanka’s place as a protected, handy, and welcoming vacation spot for Indian vacationers, on the Bandaranaike Memorial Worldwide Convention Corridor. The conference, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the Sri Lanka Affiliation of Inbound Tour Operators, has acquired sturdy help from Sri Lankan Airways.
The occasion could be inaugurated by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, together with different key dignitaries and delegate members from each international locations. The Indian Excessive Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Bagley, will ship a welcome handle, highlighting the importance of this prestigious occasion and offering a platform for networking and information sharing amongst individuals from varied international locations.
Prime Minister Gunawardena is scheduled to take part within the occasion on July seventh. The celebrations and dinner will likely be hosted at Lemon Timber, the Prime Minister’s Residence, offering a novel expertise for delegates attending the Indian Journey Congress, based on RRM Lilani. Below the theme “Transcending Borders,” the conference goals to discover the evolving panorama of the tourism business, emphasizing the embrace of latest adventures and locations.
Sri Lanka has the favored Ramayana Path, which attracts North Indian vacationers, and final 12 months, Sri Lanka Tourism launched the “Murugan Path” for South Indians. The “Murugan Path” consists of roughly ten locations of worship, from the north to the south of Sri Lanka, together with the Jaffna Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil and the Kataragama or Kadirgamam Murugan Temple. Lord Shiva can also be worshipped as one of many fundamental deities among the many South Indian neighborhood.
India and Sri Lanka share a legacy of historic, cultural, non secular, non secular, and linguistic ties that date again greater than 2,500 years. The Cultural Cooperation Settlement signed by the Governments of India and Sri Lanka in 1977 types the muse for periodic Cultural Alternate Applications between the 2 international locations, India Excessive Fee famous.
Tourism performs an important function within the bilateral relationship between India and Sri Lanka. The Authorities of India launched the e-Vacationer Visa (eTV) scheme for Sri Lankan vacationers on April 14, 2015, and diminished the visa price as a goodwill gesture. In 2019, out of a complete of 1.91 million vacationers, 355,000 vacationers arrived from India. Sri Lankan vacationers are additionally among the many high ten sources for the Indian tourism market. The tourism sector in Sri Lanka, which was severely affected by the Easter Sunday assaults, acquired a lift from Indian vacationers. India included Sri Lanka in its free visa-on-arrival scheme to additional strengthen ties on July 24, 2019.
Throughout the Digital Bilateral Summit held on September 26, 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced a USD 15 million grant help for the safety and promotion of Buddhist ties between India and Sri Lanka. This grant is the primary of its form by India and will be utilised for the development/renovation of Buddhist monasteries, training of younger monks, engagement of Buddhist students and clergy, growth of Buddhist heritage museums, cultural exchanges, archaeological cooperation, and reciprocal exposition of The Buddha’s relics.
On the 67th TAAI Conference, Jyoti Mayal, President of TAAI, highlighted the importance of transcending borders in each journey and private development. She emphasised the transformative energy of tourism in bringing prosperity, peace, and financial growth to international locations. Mayal said, “Because the business evolves, our minds should evolve too. We have to give attention to development and embrace the long run to rework lives.”
Over the course of the two-day occasion, varied subjects associated to transcending borders will likely be mentioned. Famend business consultants resembling Arvind Singh, Former Secretary of Tourism, Authorities of India; Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook dinner India Restricted; Nipun Agarwal, Chief Industrial and Transformation Officer, Air India; and Ok.B. Kachru, Chairman Emeritus & Principal Advisor – South Asia, Radisson Resorts Group, amongst others, will ship speeches on topics together with The Boundless Potential of the Skies, Experiential Journey – A Paradigm Shift in Tourism, NEXTAAI – The TAAI Members’ Know-how Initiative, Differentiating Journey – Views from Trade Consultants, Transcending Borders – Strengthening Worldwide Relations for a Remodeled World, and TAAI – The Highway Forward, as per RRM Lilani.
Notable business consultants attending the conference embrace Ashish Gupta, Consulting CEO, FAITH; Pieter Elbers, CEO Indigo; Amitabh Khosla, Nation Director – India, IATA; Praveen Iyer, Co-Founder & Chief Industrial Officer, Akasa Air; Rajeev Bhatia, Chief Industrial Officer, Amadeus India; Vinay Malhotra, Head of World Gross sales, Indigo; Richard Nuttall, CEO, Sri Lankan Airways; Kapil Kaul, CEO and Director, CAPA India; Ajeet Bajaj, Dev Karvat, Founder and CEO, Asego Insurance coverage; G.B. Srithar, Regional Director, India, Center East & South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board; Commander Nevil Malao, Senior Vice President, JM Baxi & Co.; Noel Swain, COO – Passport, eVisa, Id & Citizen Companies, VFS World; Sandeep Dwivedi, CEO – InterGlobe Know-how Quotient, and plenty of extra.
Jay Bhatia, Vice President of TAAI, emphasised the importance of the Conference in fostering stronger bilateral relationships between India and Sri Lanka. With the participation of roughly 200 Sri Lankan tourism stakeholders within the B2B periods, the occasion serves as a great platform for networking and establishing fruitful enterprise relations. These interactions promote inbound and outbound journey between India and Sri Lanka, encouraging vacationers to discover new and thrilling locations.
Jyoti Mayal, President of TAAI, highlighted the immense potential of the Indian market to change into some of the sought-after locations globally for outbound journey. The TAAI Conference in Colombo presents a chance to discover rising traits, share insights, and collaborate to form a future the place journey transcends borders and actually transforms lives, she mentioned. As delegates collect in Colombo, allow us to seize this event to embrace these traits and work collectively towards a extra interconnected and transformative journey business, Mayal added.
The primary theme of the TAAI 2023 convention is to strengthen the regional tourism business, aligning with Sri Lankan Airways’ regional technique. Sri Lanka’s strategic location within the Indian Ocean makes it a great hub for connecting international locations to the north, east, and west of India. Sri Lanka has change into a preferred stopover vacation spot for Indian vacationers travelling to Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Maldives. Sri Lankan Airways at present operates 85 weekly flights between varied Indian cities and Sri Lanka.
Dimuthu Thennakone, Head of Worldwide Gross sales and Distribution at Sri Lankan Airways, expressed the airline’s objective to strengthen relations with India, significantly specializing in leisure and MICE (Conferences, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) vacationers. Sri Lankan Airways goals to broaden its flight operations to a number of different cities in India sooner or later and is happy to collaborate with the TAAI Affiliation to additional develop tourism actions between the 2 international locations, he pressured.
This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Solely the headline has been modified.