New Delhi : The 26th IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators) annual convention will be held on September 2-5, 2010 at Hotel Inder Residency, Udaipur, Rajasthan with the theme 'Tourism In the New World Order'.

Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister, Rajasthan is expected to inaugurate the convention. Other eminent dignitaries to be present for the convention include: Kumari Selja, Union Minister for Tourism; Bina Kak, Minister for Tourism, Government of Rajasthan and Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister for Tourism, Government of Orissa. The association is also expecting Tourism Ministers from Uttarakhand, Kerala and Karnataka to attend the inaugural session of the convention. As the association has witnessed an overwhelming response in the number of registrations for the convention, it is expecting 1,500 delegates to attend the convention.

On the sidelines of the convention, the association will organise Indian Tourism Fair (Travel Mart) showcasing latest tourism products and destinations. The association will also organise post tours and spouse tours for delegates on the last day of the convention. The post tours will cover tourist circuits such as Nathdwara, Haldighati, Eklingji, Mount Abu and Chittorgarh Fort.

Speaking exclusively with reporters on the convention theme and the reason for selecting Udaipur for this year's convention, Rajesh Mudgill, Chairman Convention & Honorary Secretary, IATO said, "With the system of travel business changing rapidly throughout the world, we decided to choose the theme' Tourism- In the Changing Word Order'. Since our members are not fully aware about the vast changes taking place in the travel and tourism industry, the association intends to update its members on the same through this year's convention."

Mudgill added that as far as choosing Udaipur for this year's convention is concerned, our main aim is to organise our conventions at different places in India and promote tourism in these places accordingly. This year, Maharashtra and Rajasthan showed interest in hosting the IATO convention. Due to technical reasons and internal referendum, we decided to organise the convention in Udaipur this year as the city is capable of accommodating huge number of convention delegates. However, next year the association is looking at organising the convention in the North East region of India.

For this year's annual convention, the association has decided to organise 12 business sessions during the four-day convention. The main objective of organising these sessions is to educate its members on the changing travel and tourism industry trends. The first business session 'In the New World Order' has Amitabh Kant, CEO, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) as the keynote speaker and Arjun Sharma, Managing Director, Le Passage to India as moderator. Other panel members include: Devesh Chaturvedi, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India; Hiran Cooray, Chairman, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA); Neelima Chopra - Executive Vice President- Sales & Marketing, Oberoi Group and Kamal Hingorani - Vice President - Marketing & Planning, SpiceJet.

The second business session 'Bollywood & Tourism' has Sanjay Gadhvi, Movie Director as the keynote speaker. Other panel members include: Siddharth Anand, Movie Director; G S Chahal, Executive Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism; Usha Sharma, Principal cum Secretary Tourism, Government of Rajasthan and Princess Padmaja Kumari, Joint Managing Director, HRH Group.

The third business session will have a detail presentation on Rajasthan Tourism presented by Usha Sharma, Principle cum Secretary Tourism, Government of Rajasthan. The fourth business session 'States - Are They Serious?' has Manav Thadani, Managing Director, HVS India as the keynote speaker and Rakesh Mathur, President, Welcome Heritage as moderator. Other panel members include representatives of state tourism board from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The session will have discussions on topics such as: tourism friendly states, more proactive states, marketing presence and issues related to transport, connectivity, taxes, guides, monuments, entry, safety, tourist police, infrastructure and permits etc.

The fifth business session 'Tourism and Technology 2010' has Jyotsana Suri, Chairman & Managing Director, Lalit as the keynote speaker. Other panel members include: Sanjoy Pasricha, Vice President - Sales & Marketing - Leela Hotels; Marco Gorin - CCO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient; Ram Badrinathan, General Manager, Asia Pacific and Vice President, Learning Solutions, PhoCusWright.

The sixth business session 'Best Practices in Tourism' has Ragini Chopra, Vice President, Corporate Communications & Public Relations, Jet Airways as the keynote speaker and Vikram Madhok, Managing Director, Abercombie & Kent as moderator. Other panel members include: Amit Prasad, COO, Go India Journeys; Hemant Mediratta, Vice President - Sales, Oberoi Group; Navaid Desai, Vice President, Kingfisher Airlines and Lisa Simon, President, National Tour Association (NTA).

The seventh business session 'Social Responsibility and Inclusive Tourism' has Sujit Banerjee, former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism of Government of India as the keynote speaker. Other panel members include: Lisa Simon, President, NTA and Dr V Venu, Secretary Tourism, Kerala.

The eight business session 'Marketing internationally' will have Vijay Batra, Motivational Speaker and Life Coach, speak on topics such as marketing tourism abroad, how to get the best out of the international trade fair and how mobile technology will revolutionise the industry.

The ninth and tenth business session will have presentations on Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Orissa Tourism. These presentations will be delivered by G S Chahal, Executive Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Santosh Sarangi, Commissioner Cum Secretary Tourism, Government of Orissa.

The 11th and 12th business session will have Dr Promod Batra, Author & Attitudinal Trainer delivering a motivational speech and a play - Shirley Valentine by Poor Box Productions respectively.