Northstar

NEWS www.travelweeklyweb.com Growing the travel business Dato' Ngiam Foon is the name that pops up as THE travel agent whenever expert advice is sought on Kuala Lumpur or Malaysia. He has spent more than 20 years in the industry, and have been with his current travel group since 2004. His Travel Group comprises Asia Experience Tours (inbound and online wholesaler), Europcar (car rental and leasing), Orex Travel (Japanese corporate and leisure) and PST Travel/BCD Travel (TMC) When were the most diffi cult years and how did you overcome the years? The most difficult years were 2001/2002 and 2003 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA and SARS in Asia respectively. These two incidents caused a severe drop in travel spend. In the first case, we shifted our focus from long haul Europe to the regional market whereas for the second case, we look to the domestic market and at the same time reduce our operating costs. Can you trace how your company has grown, and what it has become today? We have grown through a mixture of strategies. Asia Experience Tours was a Greenfi eld project, nurtured by a team of key staff in 2003 and the other businesses were acquired in 2004/5. We grew these acquisitions by focusing on what each business is good at. For example, in the case of PST we partnered with the global TMC – BCD Travel to become a market leader in corporate ticketing. As for our car rental business, we joined the world largest car rental network by becoming the franchisee of EUROPCAR. We focus on corporate incentive groups and leisure travel through our other business units. And we are continuously looking at ways to leverage on the latest technologies to allow us to keep abreast with our customers' expectations. We grew to be a market leader all within a time span of fi ve years. What would have been your greatest satisfaction and triumph? Despite all the market turmoil we experienced since the last 20 years, I never had to lay off a single staff or to resort to pay cut-only one year with pay freeze. And I helped to build two market leaders – one was my former company and the second one is my present group. Of course I did all this with plenty of help from my teams at both the places. How has Kuala Lumpur has grown as a city and as a destination? I t h a s b e c ome mo r e o f a n international city with something new and old to offer – modernity and old charms at the same time. It has grown from a one night stopover city to a three or four night destination for both the leisure and the MICE markets. Dato' Ngiam Foon, CEO. What is KL's appeal as a city for both high end and leisure tourists? It has a casual and easy going atmosphere with plenty of green and where people are warm and friendly. We have good convention facilities with good value for money shopping and all kinds of cuisines available to fi t everybody's budget. If you could have it your way and do anything you like, how would you promote KL? I would make it more convenient to move around within the city, with more connectivity between all modes of transportation with better taxi service. Also, I would make internet connectivity readily available so that visitors can access all relevant information to enhance their experiences while in KL. KL would then be become a hassle free city to move around to explore and enjoy on your own with your family. What are the problems a travel agent would face with in KL? We do not encounter many. ALL-INCLUSIVE LUXURY. SIGNATURE SILVERSEA STYLE. More Luxury, More Destinations, More Value Our unrivalled collection of worldwide voyages combines the incomparable elegance of Silversea with truly exceptional value. For more information or a copy of our 2013 Voyage Calendar please call +65 6223 7066 or email singaporesales@silversea.com Visit silversea.com www.travelweeklyweb.com 07 FEBRUARY 2012 | TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA ■ | 7 2013 VOYAGES ON SALE NOW!

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