AL WASEET TRAVEL & TOURISM SERVICES IS ONE OF THE MOST TRUSTED TRAVEL MANAGEMENT COMPANIES OF KUWAIT, THAT HAS BEEN SERVING CORPORATES WITH ALL TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Established in 1998 as an IATA Travel Agency in Kuwait, we switched over to a hundred percent Travel Management Company in 2003, with its head office in Kuwait City. The company has been quite successful and placed as one of the top 10 agents in the country and ranked as one of the top 5 for corporate travel, providing travel solutions to major multinational and local corporate companies in the Oil & Gas sector, civil construction for infrastructure development, various Government Departments, etc. WTTS currently serves over 750+ corporations in Kuwait and employs a vast demographic of people in and around the Middle East region. We have won numerous awards for our travel services. WTTS, an ISO-certified company, is also proud to be certified with the Central Tenders Committee in Kuwait. WTTS is also a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), and the Kuwait Travel & Tourism Agency Association (KTTA). We are also registered with Dunn & Bradstreet Corporation and Central Contractor Registration. WTTS is a financially stable company with a paid-up capital of KWD 2.4 million and a working capital of KWD 4 million.
THE KEYPERSON
Recently in face-to-face interaction with the Entrepreneur Insights team, Mr. Saleem Murad, CEO & Managing Director shared more details about the company and his thoughts on the current scenario. We also got to know a lot about his entrepreneurial journey.
We are one among the few TMCs who operated and supported corporate companies all through the COVID19 pandemic season of almost two years. We operated hundreds of repatriation charter flights to various destinations in India, Nepal, Bangkok, Istanbul, Dhaka, Philippines, etc. in order to transport stranded citizens to their homeland.
We are proud to proclaim that we are one of the few TMC’s who maintained the pre-Covid statuesque and to the surprise of many in the Travel Industry of Kuwait, we recruited Managers and Staff during the Covid period, thus enhancing our staff strength and proving to the world of our financial stability which will never be compromised under any circumstances.
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE HAD TO OVERCOME ?
The major challenges we had to overcome were with the start of the online portals globally, on-time reverts to our huge client database with accuracy in invoicing, and recently the Covid pandemic.
The online portal has made clients aware of the routing and pricing. To overcome this situation, WTTS has started our very own corporate travel portal, which is linked to all the major global online portals. We have also adopted a fixed service charge for all bookings made online, offline, or through various electronic applications which is very minimal and acceptable to our clients.
Having a huge client base of 750+ corporates and having business operations throughout the year, sometimes it becomes a challenge to revert to all the clients in the stipulated time as well as to ensure quality work with no change on the service level provided. We have overcome the challenge by recruiting well-experienced staff who dedicate their working time to the needs of our clients. With over 100 staff recruited we ensure the companies are assigned accordingly to ensure no staff is overburdened and all the companies assigned receive their quotations appropriately. A proper database has been maintained for all our frequent travellers and corporates to ensure quicker replies and proper invoicing to avoid any duplicates or manipulation in the invoicing.
and corporates to ensure quicker replies and proper invoicing to avoid any duplicates or manipulation in the invoicing.
Survival during the COVID19 pandemic season supporting our various corporate clients, operating repatriation charter flights, and retaining the entire workforce was the biggest challenge to overcome, which we did to the utmost satisfaction of one and all.
WHICH ONE THING DO YOU WISH YOU’D DONE DIFFERENTLY ?
Speaking of doing things differently, during the covid pandemic we wish we could have started a system that regulates all the Travel companies in Kuwait, to ensure that pricing and repatriation were done smoothly and equally to all the expatriates who availed these services. Since the system was not implemented, WTTS planned and executed nearly 100+ repatriation flights to ensure all passengers availing of our service were treated and billed equally.
WHAT DOES REVOLUTION MEAN TO YOU ?
The travel and tourism industry were one of the first of its kind to adopt the Internet and new technologies, which completely changed our way of looking at travel. Travel agencies have understood the interest of digitizing and fully exploiting all the opportunities that the web has to offer.
HOW HAS THE INDUSTRY CHANGED OVER THE YEARS ?
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Kuwait has the biggest internal domestic demand and the largest expenditure on foreign travel and tourism across all countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The commercial activity in the sector has resulted in excellent national airlines such as Kuwait Airways, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways emerging successful at an international level.
TELL US ABOUT THE CLIENT BASE.
We have a varied client base. We cater to the retail sector, financial sector, medical sector, fashion sector, F&B sector, service sector, government sector, Oil and Gas sector, construction sector, and many more.
WHEN IT COMES TO THE COMPANY, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF ?
Established as a corporate travel service provider since 2003, we have secured a steady growth in corporate accounts partnering with us. At present we have more than 750+ satisfied corporate accounts under our umbrella. We do have a couple of motivational activities like Employ Of the Month with four or five categories who all are given away with a Certificate and cash price, Our Higher Management is determined to ensure wellbeing of the entire staff members and families and are always available with their helping hand when in need. Tremendous support extended during the pandemic season itself expresses our higher management’s willingness to look after the welfare of its staff who are the backbone of the Company.
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE MOST DIFFICULT TASK IN BEING IN YOUR INDUSTRY ?
A couple of recent surveys carried out by different Agencies have revealed ‘economic uncertainty as the biggest challenge currently facing the travel industry. This was closely followed by issues surrounding ‘sustainable travel’ and ‘climate change, highlighting these as key challenges.
Outside of external influences, a large percentage of respondents identified ‘gaps in technological skills’ within the industry as a key challenge. This ties in with perceived barriers to digital transformation, where, within the same survey, knowledge and skills gaps were highlighted as key factors limiting growth.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT AT WORK ?
While every human being needs a vacation, while not at work, firstly we assign our duties to the appropriate person in charge and ensure all our clients are well informed on the same. Our vacation is mainly to travel to various destinations to study and experience various cultures, which enables us to provide first-hand information to our clients planning to travel.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS YOU MAKE AS A LEADER OF YOUR ORGANIZATION ?
As a leader, we must always stand as an example to all the employees. The major decision I make is to ensure I have a strong experienced management team to organize the daily reports. Stand by my team in the time of their needs. Provide a working environment to ensure my team is not over-stressed and to make them feel it’s their own business to run.
HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE CREATIVE THINKING WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION ?
To ensure creative thinking, every day we have a morning inspirational meeting to ensure all the staff are relaxed and stress-free. Every month the entire team is taken for a team-building exercise, with activities and games. This enables them to free their minds and start thinking out of the box.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS ?
Our future endeavor is to expand our business from travel to various other fields. We would always strive to be a better organization and to expand and step into new business ventures in the service sector.
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE TO OUR READERS ?
Wherever you work, work thinking it’s your own business. Always look for positive outcomes and never complain, instead place suggestions to change the negatives to positive. Also, work as a team to achieve organizational goals.
Entrepreneur Insights
Indrani Bannerjee