Reconnecting with trade partners

It is time for travel, tourism and hospitality to network together on a single platform at ITB Berlin. Rehan Ali, CEO, Tawfeeq Travel Qatar shares with TRAVTALK the importance of the event and what they are currently working to reconnecting with suppliers and customers at the show.

TT Bureau

German market is an important source market in the GCC as many locals and residents enjoy the beautiful outdoors, full of natural beauty. Rehan Ali, CEO, Tawfeeq Travel Qatar said, “ITB Berlin, which has made a comeback after a hiatus of three years, is one of the main Travel Trade events that Tawfeeq Travel will be attending to connect, network and do business with key travel industry partners worldwide. We are looking forward to reconnecting with supplier, customers at this show. ITB is a place of where all the industry leading minds come together, which gives us numerous networking and business opportunities to exchange ideas, share knowledge, rethink concepts, and offer solutions too. Expectations are way too high.”

Sustainable travel and tourism play an important role today across the globe, in fact every single industry is transforming to suit the need of the hour. Explaining about their clients, Ali said they prefer to adapt to incorporate a sustainable role. “Our clients are conscious about traveling sustainably. Most partners that we work with invest heavily on sustainable travel and our clients appreciate being a part of the process of making this world better for generations to come.”

In terms of booking patterns, the Middle East region is seen as a last-minute booking market, however, word from the industry is that image is also changing. Ali reiterates, “It is still majorly a last-minute booking market. However, we are seeing a gradual shift towards early bookings too, especially with big families who have specific requirements. Passengers are spending quite a lot of time in doing R&D on their travel plans to ensure seamless travel.”

Over the past few years Qatar has been making significant changes to bring in more visitors in luxury and other sectors. Ali added, “The FIFA World Cup has helped to change the perception about Qatar in a big way. People from all over the world got a first-hand experience about the wonderful experiences and world-class infrastructure Qatar offers. We have seen an increase in interest for Qatar as a MICE destination. We managed a few MICE groups as well as weddings in Qatar. Positioning as one of the safest countries in the world, Qatar has given a big boost to inbound business.”

MICE tourism rose steadily over the past two years amidst all obstacles. Ali shared, “It is exciting to see our efforts in promoting Qatar at various trade fairs and roadshows across the globe has gained good traction. We see huge interest from India for MICE and weddings, Nordics and Italy for leisure & MICE, Kazakhstan, Iran and Belarus for leisure charters, and Japan & Korea for stopover packages. We also see a huge interest from cruise companies in adding Qatar as a key destination.”

“We at Tawfeeq Travel, are always keen to innovate and evolve. We have recently introduced baggage storage services. Our B2C booking app ‘Click n Travel’ will be launched soon. We will also be focussing Wellness and Cruising experiences, especially on luxury yacht and river cruises. We want to be a leading TMC / DMC in the region hence we are looking at expanding our reach in the region. We just started our operations in Hyderabad, India last September. We are investing heavily on providing online solutions for our customer in different verticals.”