Lessons in travel business

Kuoni to synergise with NIS for tourism courses

The dug-up Barakhamba Road in the capital is an unlikely place to serve as the "Harvard for travel education", but its most ramshackle landmark, New Delhi House, is where India's ambitious tourism academy is headquartered.

Supported by the $3-billion Kuoni group that penetrated the Indian market when it bought over Sita Travels, the Kuoni Academy of Travel is now tying up with the National Institute of Sales (NIS) to open centres in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

Kuoni already has an institute operational in Hyderabad, and in Delhi, 18 programmes are conducted simultaneously for 400 students spread over two-hour batches that run from 8 am to 8 pm.

"We're in the final stages of negotiating a memorandum of understanding with NIS," confirms Ranjit Malkani, chairman of the academy's board of governors and CEO of Kuoni-India.

"This is the honeymoon period when we're trying to work together. They have the infrastructure, and we have the knowledge and expertise."

According to the academy's vice president and head, Kamal Hingorani, NIS came up with the proposal, "and our synergies matched". And just as well too for the travel agency business is unregulated and "" much like the property market "" a level playing field for everyone irrespective of education or experience.

But in the growing environment of increasing competition and open markets, the tie-up could result in the travel and tourism business being taught in conjunction with personality development and, later, sales and marketing components.

For the moment, 90 per cent of Kuoni students are enrolled for either the IATA international fares programme for undergraduates, or the one-year management programme for final year students.

"Our investment in R&D is very high," says Hingorani, "and with 400 students last year, we're probably the largest institute of the kind in the Asia-Pacific region."

Besides, the academy also customises courses for key members of the industry, whether airlines like Jet or Sahara, or agency programmes for Sita Travels.

"These companies find it easier to outsource their training programmes." Kuoni has also been approved by the Travel Agents Association of India to conduct front-line, supervisory and top management courses for its members.

While its one-year programme has been developed in-house, the academy is running UK-based City and Guild's international programme as well.

"Eventually," says Hingorani, "we hope to develop this as the global model for training in tourism."

Therefore, besides Kuoni's availability in key Indian cities with NIS, the academy wants an outreach programme in cities in South Asia as well as in some South-east Asian countries.

Based on its success, the model would then be exported to Europe and to Switzerland where Kuoni is based. "That would be a final feather in our cap," says Hingorani.

Meanwhile, for the growing travel industry segment, the spread of travel education can only prove a boon, given that 80 per cent of the travel industry ownership (according to reliable estimates) consists of high school dropouts.