Sudhakar-Rao,-Director,-Rao
Interview

Rao Travels, a household name in tourism industry

Established in 1977, focusing on budget tours, Rao Travels promises on ‘Reliability, Punctuality, Comfort, Safety and Moderate Pricing’ Rao Travels organizes hundreds of tours every year and handles huge number of tourists per year. Trisha Roy, Special Correspondent, Netpal Travel interacted with Mr. Sudhakar Rao, Director, Rao Travels, Hyderabad, on their continuous growth and development along with future expansions to increase business in 2019

  1. Give a brief background of your organization. What’s the USP?

    Rao Travels is a Travel agent, Fleet owner and Tour operator. Started as small tour operator and travel agency in 1977, is now a well-respected name in the country.

    Rao Travels is one of the leading tour operators and pioneers in conducting Package tours across the country. The organization has created its own brand in the travel industry. It has over a period of time grown up to a fleet of high-end luxury cars and coaches (for all segments), MUVs, Luxury coaches AC & Non AC and VOLVO air buses, besides network of Branches, booking offices, agents and sub – agents across the country. Their offices in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Nellore and Visakhapatnam and authorized /networking agents at several parts of the country.

    There are dedicated verticals for Picnic Tours , Pilgrim India – Getaway Goddess / Pilgrimage tours, Family tours , Ladies only holidays ,Honey moon packages Tailor-made tours for Individuals, Groups, Students, so on and so forth all over India & Abroad.

  2. Did you introduce any special winter or year-end promotions?

    This winter season we have released many domestic and international packages as usual like Dubai Shopping Festival, Hong Kong / Macau, Singapore / Malaysia and Maldives. Domestic tours are packed for hill stations like Shimla, Manali, North East, Rajasthan and Rann of Kutch.

  3. Are you attending SATTE and OTM 2019? If so, what are you expecting out of these events? What are the other events you attend during the year?

    Yes, we are attending both SATTE and OTM 2019. Hopefully we are expecting the best B2B rates and the genuine DMC. TTF, IITM are in the panel list as a continuation of our promotion.

  4. What were your new and major developments in 2018? What are the upcoming products/services/launches planned in 2019?

    We are launching tourism shows in major TV channels with the total guidance of Do’s & Dont’s. The other related promotional programs like regular and digital marketing respectively are on pipeline.

  5. How was your business in 2018 if compared to 2017? What are the trends that picked up more in 2018? How you are expecting business to be in 2019?

    Though the market is little slow in 2018 ,but was good compared to 2017 and expecting coming season could be fruitful and will explore economically with the previous seasons.

  6. Comment on the growth of online travel agencies, nowadays. Don’t you think it’s a threat for the traditional travel agents due to their escalating spread?

    Yes, obviously it’s a big threat for every individual business entities.

  7. What are the challenges you have faced in 2018? If any, please narrate how you have planned to overcome them?
    Encountering the regular upcoming challenges like promotions, customer handling and major part is costing in comparison with online portals.

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