The Enterprising Travel Agents Association (ETAA)’s first international convention, scheduled to be held in Dubai from 29 November- 2 December 2013, received overwhelming response from members and was sold out in the first six weeks since its announcement. Naveen Advani, President, ETAA stated that they are treating the convention in a unique way, by making it a discover experience rather than a convention filled with panel discussions and business sessions. “The focus is to showcase and promote the host destination, and experiencing it is the best way to do it as opposed to keeping members in a ballroom listening to business sessions,” he said.
Speaking about Dubai as a venue, Advani added that the destination is close to India, has a lot of awareness, and is well advertised, increasing agents’ curiosities about the country, and making it the perfect place to showcase to ETAA members. The convention will also feature an offline destination training programme by DVPC, a first of its kind as the module is an online one.
Themed ‘Dubai in your Palm’, the convention will showcase Dubai’s malls as well as outdoor activities such as the dhow cruise, desert safari, etc. Karl Dantas, Chairman Emiratus, ETAA also revealed that the overwhelming response has led to other countries approaching them for future conventions. He further added that the association is already planning one domestic and one international convention in 2014, both of which will be discovery conventions like this year’s.
He further stated that the event is dedicated to the late Kamlesh Amin, whose dedication helped move ETAA to recognition.
Adding to the association’s achievements this year, its membership base went up from about 420 members to 575 since the announcement. Dantas added that, while the common belief is that the international convention fuelled these numbers, only half the new members are attending the convention. The increase is based purely on increased awareness of the association. “We are now mooting chapters in Nasik, Nagpur, Cochin, Chennai, Coimbatore, and other cities as each of these regions has crossed 20 members.”
