Valuing the customer

Category : Best National Outbound Tour Operator
Winner : SOTC

Sunil Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, SOTC

I am very excited that we won this award today. We were adjudged the Best Outbound Tour Operator in 2004, 2005 and 2006 also. The Galileo Express TravelWorld Awards command a lot of credibility. I would like to dedicate the award to the customers and team SOTC. It means a lot to the company and is a signal to the customers of our value system and the people who made it happen - team SOTC.

Our flagship brand - World Famous Tours, pioneered the designing and marketing of escorted tours to cosmopolitan travellers in India. These tours have escorted over 3,00,000 travellers across the globe, for more than 50 years to various destinations. We leverage the advantage of the buying power and travel services to provide customers with value-for-money packages, in an endeavour to bring a dream holiday alive. The way ahead is to continue innovating. For the first time in the industry we held a B2C holiday bazaar that generated business for our partners. Also with an online presence at a good time, there will soon be a shake up in the tour operating business. In the future we will look at acquisitions, a route that Kuoni is open to.

In the future, too, this industry will see consolidation. The reality of the market is that travel portals are here to stay. But the players who survive will be those who will make money. The trend of a shake-out will not be restricted to the tour operator segment only. Low -cost carriers, too, will see consolidation soon. And the winner will be the customer who will be spoilt for choice. Ultimately, only those players who provide quality services will survive.