India truly an emerging destination: Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI

Jyoti Mayal, President of TAAI

How important is the G20 Presidency opportunity for India’s tourism industry?

G20 is a wonderful opportunity, it is a year full of celebrations, meetings. These 20 countries are controlling 20 pc of GDP globally, so I think it is a great initiative and I think it is an honour for the Prime Minister to be chairing it at this time, where tourism is on the rise, economies are on the course of revival. All these make a very big difference to India, because India is a growing country and everyone is looking at India today. But I just hope that the government looks at sustainability moving forward, and we keep doing the things that we are doing right now.

What do you have to say about India as an emerging destination on the international map?

India is truly an emerging destination and I am very proud to be associated with our country, and also our industry. Because this is the right time for India to encash all the opportunities and as we grow economically, we also grow. We are a youth country. So, all these things need to be looked into. And I am sure we will develop a lot more, and we need to remain committed to the stands that we are taking, and I think it is one of the best opportunities that could have happened for India.

What do you think of promotion of North East as a destination?

People in the North East are very hardworking and resilient, and yet that is a destination which people don’t know much about. So, we need to develop these destinations and we have a minister right now, G Kishan Reddy, who is also the Union Minister for DoNER. I think it is a very good initiative that even G20 meetings are now happening in Siliguri and Darjeeling where we are all a part of it, because of the focus on tourism there. And only when people travel does the infrastructure come up very beautifully.

What are some of the bottlenecks does the Indian tourism industry face?

 Right now, the bottlenecks are many because we are running short on the capacity of flights, which we need more because the fares are very high and only when the capacity increases the demand will be balanced out and it will become more viable for everyone to travel. So that is the first thing, but of course we also need more infrastructure, more last-mile connectivity, which is going to play a very big role. Thirdly, public-private partnerships need to be developed much more, especially with associations like ours because TAAI is the oldest and the largest body. So, we need to have more partnerships to work out things, and it should be milestone driven.

What are the key initiatives of TAAI in 2023?

TAAI has always believed in a couple of things, like promoting new destinations a lot, because inbound, outbound, domestic-all have to be together. You can’t segregate one from the other, you have to be a part of the evolution of the industry which is happening. So, we need to evolve in the correct format. And even the airlines, when they are coming into the country they need to carry people from here and bring people from there. That’s what tourism is really about.

Those are the things we are working on with the government and the industry. I also believe very strongly about skilling and I am also the Chairperson of the Board of the Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council, so we do a lot of skilling right at the grassroots levels, which we are continuing. When I took over as the TAAI President, we started Women in TAAI and Tourism. We are going to be developing that more. As I speak we are gearing up for the first 20 women we are taking from the grassroot level for hospitality and we are starting with UP. Lucknow is the first place where we are starting. So, there are a lot of things we are doing and we are giving people opportunities. We are also looking at opportunities, how we can enhance the business and of course, I am the face to fight all the battles, surely, we will grow ahead with.