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2019 UFTAA Mid-Year Forum, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The UFTAA BOARD MEETING & MID YEAR FORUM was successfully held at Colombo, Sri Lanka, from the 31st August, 2019 to the 2nd September, 2019.

It was extremely well hosted event by the Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau under the aegis of Ministry of Tourism, Sri Lanka. The event was outstandingly coordinated by our member TAASL – Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka, under the able leadership of Mr Trevor Rajaratnam, President of TAASL & Board Member of UFTAA.

Here are some conclusions & highlights of the Board Meeting & FORUM

  • UFTAA welcomed into its fold NANTAS – Nigeria Association of Nigeria Travel Agents, a large member association for UFTAA. NANTAS has over 5,000 members. UFTAA also welcomed STTA – Saudi Association of Travel & Tourism Association, with over 600 members. Both these associations were represented at the FORUM and had actively participated in all our deliberations.
  • UFTAA was happy to announce our new Partnership with WATA – the World Association of DMC’s of the world. WATA has enrolled, as a member of UFTAA and UFTAA too will be a reciprocal member in WATA. An MOU was signed and this will enable members of both organizations to mutually interdepend on one-another and gain value from such relationship. (www.wata-dmc.net)
  • UFTAA was also happy to announce our partnership with “.travel” (Donuts Incorporation) – The domain name .travel is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet .travel domain names are available to individuals and / or organizations who provides or plans to provide services, products or content in or to the travel industry. It is sponsored by “Donuts Inc”.

UFTAA members, including all our members from our member Associations, will be benefitted by the special rates that “.travel” has offered to UFTAA.

  • UFTAA welcomes to the Board, the President of KATA – Kenya Association of Travel Agents, who has been inducted into the UFTAA Board, effective 1st of September, 2019. UFTAA Board placed on record our appreciation to Mr SG Kaka, the immediate past president of KATA and VP Finance of UFTAA, for his services to UFTAA. UFTAA was also pleased to announce that the UFTAA Board appointed our Board Member Mr Trevor Rajaratnam from TAASL, Sri Lanka, as the VP Finance of UFTAA with effect from 1st September, 2019
  • The presentations by UFTAA including the interaction with the Secretary Generals of our Associations as well as the presentations on several subjects were extremely well received. Remarked, one of the members present at such interaction – “In my last 42 years of industry association, such learning that happened during the last two years is rather rare”. He expressed compliments to UFTAA for encouraging such interactions where extensive learning from Association’s best practices were the central focus.
  • UFTAA FORUM 2019 turned out to be an extremely well attended event. It was wonderful to witness over 140 attendees at the most elaborately presented sessions on Industry Trends; IATA updates & NewGen ISS and the new challenges in the evolving scenario and Tourism updates. The quality of interaction was of a high order and such FORUMs either held independently or alongside the AGA’s of UFTAA, must receive larger participation from our members across the world. This event was held in the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Colombo.
  • A GALA DINNER on the mini Cruise was another hi-light from SLTB & TAASL. This was a rewarding experience as the delegates of UFTAA were offered this most outstanding experience on the Lake Cruise adjoining our Hotel – Cinnamon Lake Side. UFTAA presented plaques of appreciation to the Hon’ble Minister of Tourism Mr John Amaratunga; Chairman of SLTB; TAASL; Cinnamon Lake Side Hotel; Sri Lankan Airlines and Emirates Airlines for their most outstanding support. It was a delight for our delegates to have had the presence of the Hon’ble Minister; all key leaders in Sri Lankan Tourism from several ministries & authorities; Airline personnel and Media present at the Gala Dinner.
  • Overall, the experience and memories one took back from the UFTAA Mid Year FORUM has been outstanding and satisfying. UFTAA expresses its gratitude to all in Sri Lanka for their most generous hosting of the event.

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