--By Sushila Budhathoki

 

The selection of Incentive Tours and Travels Pvt. Ltd, a Kathmandu-based travel agency, as General Sales Agent (GSA) of Air Asia X - the premiere Malaysia budget carrier - is not a co-incidence with the announcement of Visit Malaysia Year 2014, but a result of five years of hard work to achieve such an assignment. 

 

The company turned GSA of Air Asia X last year but the excitement of winning the title persists. It was obvious for Incentive Tours and Travel, also known as Incentive Group of Companies, that this wouldbecome a major turning point in their business. Nutan Bajracharya, General Manager of the group says, “It happened because of the diligence and hard work of our Chairman Hariman Lama whostarted his career as a messenger in a travel agency..” Lama symbolizes the brand image the company is to going to form. 

Having started off as Incentives Tours and Travels in 1999, the group now acquires two other companies namely Sansui Cargo and Incentive Holidays. With five flights a week to Malaysia, the group acquires 25 percent of market shares in flights to and from Malaysia, according to the company’s spokesperson. Within a short span of time, the company has served over 10 thousand tourists from all over the world, mainly theUS, Japan, Europe and South East Asian countries. The company now has anannual turnover of two billion 

 

Targeting the middle class 

 

Before the introduction of direct flights and economy tourism packages, only upper class customers were considered to be the target market for international tourism in Nepal. According to the company, it is the sole enterprise that flies people at an affordable fare and targets mostly middle class consumers.. The company has now expanded its services to China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Bhutan and Tibet. “We are now focusing on out-bound tourism because a high number of Nepalis are going abroad daily for jobs, travel or to study,” says Bajracharya. 

 

Recently, the company has come up with a travel package to Malaysia targeting the middle class in Nepal. “We have a four-night-five-day tour package for Malaysia at the price of Rs 49,499and, so far we have received very good bookings,” he shares. 

 

International ticketing and tour packages as well as cargo all around the world are Incentive’s services at the offing. Says Bajracharya: “We have trekking and mountaineering as well, in addition to our packages forout-bound tourism.” According to him, Air Asia X is gaining popularity among people flying togulf countries and some 200-250 people choose to fly with it every month. The company has a target of increasing this number to 500 passengers per month. Among those who come to Incentive Holidays, Singapore and Malaysia are the most visited destinations. 

 

The services of the company include hotel reservations, domestic flights, MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conferencing and Exhibition), international flights, helicopter charters, special tailored tours and out-bound tours. Bungee jumping, paragliding, mountain flights, jungle safari, tours, sightseeing and white water river rafting are other activities the company has been in the business of. Prior to Incentive Holidays, Incentive Tours and Travels used to handle these businesses. 

 

Nutan sees three or four companies as his competitors. He says they have packages for outbound tourists as well butwhen it comes totour packages in Malaysia, competition seems to have been eliminated due to Incentive’s alliance with Air Asia. 

 

Human Resource Management 

 

Nutan shares that his company follows staff rules and regulations for pay and perks. “We hire experts and seek their recommendation to manage our human resource,” he says, adding that this system becomes instrumental in keeping the company fine tuned. “Even when staff are at leave or in holiday, the company’s schedule is not affected since their tasks are handled systematically.” Including five Deputy General Managers and board directors, the company currently employs 50 people, among who 17 are women. 

 

The company has fixed working hours and holidays for the staff, which according to Nutan are mostly disciplined and rule abiding. In a bid to acknowledge the work of his staff and to further motivate them, the company confers the‘Staff of the year’ award annually to those who have worked well and served the company for over five years. . To keep the staff up to mark with international standards, the company often sends them abroad for training and also invites experts from outside to train them. 

 

Challenges and opportunities 

 

Since there is a huge opportunity and scope in the tourism sector, it seems that the private companies have not been able to exploit it. Bajracharya is upbeat about the prospect of tourism in Nepal. “Although Nepal is a country of amazing extremes including the greatest mountain range and anincredible variety of ecosystems, we have not been able to draw a large number of tourists,” he says. “Our company strives towards tapping this huge potential by bringing adventurous and luxury travelers from around the world.” 

 

Like many industries in Nepal, the unpredictable but recurring strikes are having an adverse impact in their business too. Bajracharya says that it not only incurs a huge loss to the economy but also paints a negative image of the country in the international arena. However, he is optimistic about the future of the tourism.. He underlines the need for massive tourism to make it a foremost industry. 

 

Hosting the tourist, which was once considered a part of the culture in Nepal, is now growing to be a lucrative business. In his experience, the understanding of tourism benefits among local people has increased. “Peoplein remote areas these days are using western-style toilets because they now understand the value of tourism,” he observes. 

 

Hariman, however, laments the apathy and indifference shown by the government towards the tourism industry. He says, “The government is not serious in exploring new tourist destinations. It is least bothered to promote already discovered tourist destinations and trekking trails. For example there isn’t a single comprehensive information booklet published by the government consisting of information on tourist destinations in Nepal.” 

 

Future Strategy 

 

The group aims to become an international travels and tours operator in the near future. The exploration of new international destinations is their immediate plan, targeting the outbound tourists. “We are exploring new destinations all around the world catering with services at competitively lower prices,” Bajracharyainforms. 

 

Speaking about the travel patterns in general, Bajracharaya observes that people usually go for pre-made packages and are relatively clueless about future travel plans.. “The ignorance of new destinations is the reason behind this,and this is why we are inviting travelers with new packages as planned by our company,” he concludes.