‘We Aim To Become The Most Sought After Luxury Holiday Company In India’

Raman Mohan, business head - India, Emirates Holidays in conversation with Charmaine Fernz, talks about his company’s venture into the Indian market and their strategic future plans

Having established a presence in the Indian market, what are your plans for the coming year?

India is a very big market and the sheer diversity across the length and breadth of the country gives any organisation tremendous scope to grow its business. At present, we have established offices in Delhi and Mumbai, so the immediate plan is to open some more offices to service other parts of the country, especially in the South where Emirates already has a strong presence. We would be opening our Kochi office shortly and are also looking at options in Chennai. In the North we would further strengthen our Delhi office to look after the needs of the Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh markets. We are looking at technology playing a very important part in our future plans and hope to have our interactive online product Tradenet being available to all registered travel agents.

What marketing strategy is being adopted for the Indian market?

Emirates Holidays is positioned as a wholesale tour operator catering to the upper end of the holiday market. We will be distributing Emirates Holidays through the retail network of travel agents, tour operators and business travel companies. With travel trade road shows already conducted in Mumbai and Delhi, we plan to reach out to more cities across the country and inform agents on the product.

We already have a trade campaign on that is creating awareness of the convenience of booking an Emirates Holidays. At the same time our consumer advertisement campaign has already begun. Apart form the above we also will be very aggressive in promoting Emirates Holidays online and use a mix of direct mailers to reach out to our target audience.

What is Emirates Holidays’ USP? Would you be introducing new destinations and packages?

The USP of Emirates Holidays is that the all-inclusive package, which includes the air and land component, is very attractively priced keeping in mind both the luxury and the affordable aspects. Furthermore each of the destination products sold have been checked and certified by Emirates Holidays Specialists. Another important USP is that with Emirates Holidays you travel on Emirates, the world acclaimed award winning airline and have the added advantage of transiting or stopping over in Dubai, which in itself is a popular destination for holiday makers the world over.

Who is your target segment?

Our target segment is people who are looking for a holiday which comes backed with the stamp of approval and guarantee from a globally recognised travel partner, i.e. in this case Emirates Group. Our holidays have a comprehensive range of accommodation but more importantly we have some excellent offers in upmarket and luxury hotel chains at all the destinations we fly to. Therefore for those who prefer these properties we would definitely recommend an Emirates Holiday. Emirates Holidays also has the advantage of having on offer a number of concept getaways - Driving Holidays, Cruise Options, Safari Park Holidays, Theme Park vacations and special Honeymoon Packages.

How closely would Emirates work along with this division? Would you look at promotional joint packages?

Emirates Holidays is a part of the Emirates Group and in all markets works hand in hand with the airline. When you buy an Emirates Holiday the travel is on Emirates Airlines and in fact the product was created as a result of the need for promotional joint packages. The added advantage of Emirates Holidays is that in situations where a flier has already bought an Emirates Airlines ticket, he has the option of looking at a land only option also. This is yet another initiative to enhance the value of the Emirates brand.

What are your targets for the coming year?

We would like to become the most sought after luxury holiday company in India.