Kolkata will host the Travel Agents Association of India’s 69th convention from October 25 to 27, with around 700 delegates from India and abroad expected to attend the three-day travel trade event.
The convention is being organised as TAAI completes 75 years. Around 100 international representatives are expected to join the gathering, which will bring airlines, travel agents and hotel businesses together for business-to-business meetings and discussions on technology adoption in the tourism industry.
The event will also include an awards ceremony to honour senior members and pioneers of the travel trade. According to the report, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, state urban development minister Agnimitra Paul, Union tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and Union minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar have been invited.
The convention will be held in India after several years. TAAI’s previous three conventions took place in Abu Dhabi, Colombo and Singapore, while its last convention in India was held in Srinagar in 2018. The event is also being positioned in the context of efforts to promote domestic tourism and reduce overseas travel expenditure.
Anjani Dhanuka, TAAI’s regional president, said the convention and the opportunities that follow it would be important for Kolkata and West Bengal. The association’s Kolkata chapter plans to use the event to position the city as a centre for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, commonly known as MICE, and to promote it as a tourism destination among international visitors.
For Kolkata, the convention will bring together a large network of businesses whose operations depend on travel connectivity, hotels, event venues and visitor services. The supplied report does not provide details of the venue, the expected economic value of the event or any additional public infrastructure arrangements.
Delegates will also be taken to several tourism destinations in West Bengal. The planned visits include the Ayodhya Hills in Purulia, Digha, the Sundarbans, Darjeeling and Mayapur. The programme is intended to introduce representatives to the state’s geographic, cultural and tourism diversity and support wider promotion of Bengal as a domestic and international tourism destination.
The convention is scheduled to run from October 25 to 27, followed by the planned destination visits for participating representatives.
