Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI), held it’s Annual General Meeting and Elections on 20th January, via video conferencing and formed a Women task force.
Vishwas Makhija, Managing Director, India Insight Tours has been elected as the President, Rajesh Ojha, Managing Director, Banjara Camps has been elected as the Senior Vice President. Vaibhav Kala, Managing Director, Aquaterra Adventures India will serve as the Vice President of the organisation and Vinayak Koul, Director, Snowlion Expeditions will be serving as the Hon. Secretary. The post of Hon. Treasurer will be held by Pradeep Murthy, Director, Muddy Boots Vacations.
The members of the executive committee include Commander Sam T Samuel from Kalypso Adventures, Ronny Singh Gulati from Youreka Campouts, Nirat Bhatt from Nidus Enterprises, Nadeem Sheikh from Sea & Sky Travel (India), Arvind Bhardwaj from Red Chilli Adventure Sports, and Milind Bhide from Countryside Adventure Holidays
The new ATOAI team will continue to progress the growth of adventure travel in India by taking forward the association’s aims and shaping government policy for this sector.
Apart from resolving issues impacting adventure tourism in the country, its main objectives would be to bring more adventure tour operators across the country into the mainstream of Quality and Responsible Tourism Practices as a member, getting all states to adopt ATOAI’s safety guidelines, prioritizing operational risk assessment within the membership, conducting skill development and capacity building workshops in association with state tourism departments and local associations, running educational seminars and FAM tours for members, fostering new and innovative adventure tourism products and creating a pool of trained human resources within the industry.
ATOAI also seeks to take measures to reduce environmental impact on India’s natural resources, check mass- tourism in our remote locales, and take active measures to help reduce a rising accident rate in recent times as a result of mass-tourism.
In an effort to encourage more women entrepreneurs in the Adventure Tourism industry, ATOAI will set up a dedicated Women’s Task Force consisting of current Women Entrepreneurs within the membership.
There are also plans to introduce an ATOAI Mobile App showcasing India’s adventure activities in conjunction with a revamp of the ATOAI website.
