Way back in 1982, seven travel trade members came together as founders of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO). The founding members of the IATO are now industry veterans Ram Kohli, Pawan Khanna, O Karnik, Sunil Poddar, Narinder Sibal, Avinash Kohli and D R Talwar.
They started the Association with three core objectives: firstly, to encourage and promote a friendly feeling among tour operators and travel agents on all subjects involving their common good and benefits; secondly, to undertake steps and necessary activities to promote, encourage and assist in the development of tourism throughout the country and thirdly, to take initiatives to secure the welfare of the trade in all respects. Apart from having core objectives for the Association, IATO also had supplementary objectives like meeting with government agencies, working in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), availing concessions on various taxes that are applicable for holiday packages, better strategies and deals with airlines to connect to new tourist destinations, more accommodation facilities beyond metro cities and diversification of tourism products offered. |