OTOAI held its 1st members meet on 06 July 2012 at the Sheraton Hotel, Saket, New Delhi.

There was a total attendance of more than 250 members and special invitees; dignitaries from diplomatic missions, guests from various tourism boards and national tourism offices, airlines, hotels and media partners. 

The President, Mr. Guldeep Singh Sahni welcomed all the guests and spoke about OTOAI’s six month journey until now. He described the trust bestowed by the trade on the association as an extraordinary experience, which is very inspiring and overwhelming. He then charted the six months of OTOAI until now:

1. Meetings with Ambassadors and High Commissioners regarding difficulties with visas , which resulted in an opportunity for further dialogue to increase the number of visitors to their countries from India.
2. An Indo Zimbabwe Travel Council was launched in association with Zimbabwe Tourism and OTOAI. The Council will work towards promoting tourism to Zimbabwe and provide support to outbound tour operators from India to do so.
3. Similarly an Indo Philippines Travel Council is to be formed to promote tourism from India and relax the visa regime. Standing by the promise OTOAI had made to enhance the knowledge base of members and their front-line staff, OTOAI members will be given preference for fams, trainings and other activities undertaken by Philippine Tourism.
4. A large number of OTOAI members completed the Dubai Experts program and as a gesture by DTCM this year a sizeable number of  OTOAI members participated as hosted buyers from India at the Arabian Travel Mart (ATM). Conducting future educational programs in India was discussed with senior management at DTCM in Dubai.
5. OTOAI & its stand was introduced to Canadian sellers at Focus Canada in Goa, organised by the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), which is also a member of the association. CTC also conducted workshops and our members who attended received certificates for 4 hours of training, which goes into the credit of 20 hours of mandatory training that our members have to take every year.
6. Various tourism boards are OTOAI members and some are in the process of signing as members.
7. OTOAI Participated as supporting association with OTM in Delhi and Mumbai, OTR in Delhi, Travel Outbound Workshop, International Tourism Conclave & Travel Awards and various other award functions and workshops.
8. A dialogue was initiated with PATA for joint initiatives as a result PATA now recognises OTOAI and it’s members and as a result of the partnership that got created, registration was extended for one month for OTOAI members to register for hosted buyers program. For this a special code was created especially for OTOAI members. A large number of OTOAI members are being invited to participate in PATA Travel Mart to be held at Manila this year as fully hosted buyers.
9. OTOAI has launched its own website, www.otoai.org which will give extensive information and have a separate section for its members.

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