Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI), the recognised nodal body for promoting adventure tourism in India, held its Annual General Meeting and Elections on January 20, via video conferencing.
Vishwas Makhija, Managing Director, India Insight Tours was elected as the President while Rajesh Ojha, Managing Director, Banjara Camps was 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 the Hon. Secretary. The post of Hon. Treasurer will be held by Pradeep Murthy, Director, Muddy Boots Vacations.
The list of Executive Committee members include Commander Sam T Samuel of Kalypso Adventures, Ronny Singh Gulati of Youreka Campouts, Nirat Bhatt of Nidus Enterprises, Nadeem Sheikh of Sea & Sky Travel (India), Arvind Bhardwaj of Red Chilli Adventure Sports and Milind Bhide of 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, prioritising operational risk assessment within the membership, conducting skill development & 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&rsquos 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.
