Travel company Trafalgar, the flagship brand of UK-based Travel Corporation, is planning to engage travellers from India far more extensively and ramping up its reach in the country. Nicholas Lim, regional director (Asia), said with its itineraries that bring together travellers from various nations for a guided tour by a designated travel director, Trafalagar has grown the fastest in India. In conversation with Ruchika Chitravanshi, he talks about the company's goals and more. Edited excerpts:
Last year you got into many tie-ups in India to promote Trafalgar. How has the response been?
We have done well out of India this year. And, in 2014 we want to further improve the experiences. We have seen a nearly 88 per cent growth in passengers opting for Trafalgar's service. Majority of our customers here have gone for our first-class luxury products. We have an affluent and a well-educated clientele in India, including professionals like doctors, lawyers and engineers. Of all the countries that we operate in, India has seen the highest growth even though it is from a lower base.
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How will you drive your growth in India in 2014?
We will push for Trafalgar as a brand, both our first-class and cost-saver packages. It is not necessary that people who take our cost-saver packages go shopping for a Birkin bag. It is just that they get more time on their itineraries compared to the luxury package, where we have lot more activities including our Be My Guest programme. Each traveller is hosted for a meal by a local family, which gives a great view into the culture and traditions of any country she is visiting.
Are you exploring new regions to add to the list of your itineraries? Are you going to provide tours for India?
We have put South America on the map. Currently, we want to focus on the markets that we are servicing. Last we added Japan, where work is still in progress. India is not on the list right now. But when the market demands it, we will look at it.
Last time you set up an office here with a country manager. Where do you go from here?
We are building our team in India because of the rise in demand we have witnessed here. We have hired a director (sales) to build relations with our customers, travel agencies, etc. We plan to hire 30 more people in the next five years in our India team, all other things remaining constant. India has moved up from being just a developing market. It is contributing two per cent to our global number (revenue), which is not big but it is growing.
