Facilitating travel

He is the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), India and South Asia, of the Kuoni Travel Group, India’s largest travel company which has a turnover of US $ 420 million (Rs 18 billion), 347 offices and 2,900 employees. Kuoni’s visa services arm, VFS Global (Visa Facilitation Services) is a worldwide leader, with operations in 39 countries, processing around four million applications annually. "I am very proud to have been associated with this company since its inception (in India) and to have been given an opportunity to play a strong role in its success — initially in leading our outbound division to become India’s No.1 outbound travel company, then in launching VFS and steering it in its spectacular growth phase… and since 2005 as CEO of the company,” states Bombay’s Zubin Karkaria.

Kuoni India is a 100 percent subsidiary of Kuoni Travel Holding Limited, one of the world’s premium tour operators, headquartered in Switzerland, which was founded in 1906 by Swiss national Alfred Kuoni. Kar­karia attributes Kuoni India’s great success to the "perfectly timed entry of Kuoni into India in 1996 (when there was anticipated tourism growth potential) and the vision to be the No.1 player in all major travel related markets for travel to, from and within India.”

Zubin Karkaria: focus on innovation

A strong emphasis on innovation, says Karkaria, has enabled the company to put forward a platter of products. The "travel now, pay later (in equated monthly instalments)” concept serves the needs of the "if it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium” kind of package tour traveller. Kuoni’s customized tours and more recently announced "private luxury holidays” give the ‘been there, done that’ kind of tourist the chance to explore, to drive around countries in a private, chauffeur-driven luxury van. Operating under various brands, Karkaria says that their outbound (SOTC and Kuoni Holidays) and inbound (SITA, Tour Club, Distant Frontiers and e-Holidays) are "very clear leaders in their respective market segments. In business travel (relaunched as HRG Sita India in 2007, HRG being a global giant in the business travel segment), we are among the top two in India.”

For VFS, a 100 percent subsidiary of Kuoni India, "we used a core competence to start a new business and have become a global leader within six years,” asserts the CEO. VFS serves diplomatic missions by managing all the administrative and non-judgmental work related to the visa application process, allowing embassies/high commissions to focus entirely on the important tasks of assessment and interview. Last year VFS was awarded a £ 195 million contract (spread over five years) with UK visas to provide visa outsourcing services in seven geographical regions, covering almost 70 percent of their visa applications globally, notes www.vfsglobal.com VFS is working on new initiatives like biometrics (identification through physical attributes like fingerprinting) and high end automation.

"We have faced some strong challenges but challenges have become a way of life for our industry and we must be prepared for every year to bring its own set of challenges…the silver lining is that with challenges come opportunities…” Karkaria had told colleagues, reviewing the company’s performance seven months after he took over as CEO. "We have always had the best people in the business and we have focused on their development,” he states. The Kuoni Academy of Travel was set up in 2003 and now has seven centers in India and has recently launched its first center outside — in Guangzhou in China.

The company has won a slew of awards including the CNBC Awaaz Travel Award 2007 as "Most Preferred Tour Operator” (for outbound travel) and the Today’s Traveller Leadership Award for 2007 which Karkaria received at the hands of Ambika Soni, minister for tourism and culture, Government of India. As part of corporate social responsibility, Kuoni supported the Bombay police in launching the nation’s first police force dedicated to the safety of tourists, and presented several jeeps to the Mumbai Tourism Police.

An alumnus of H. R. College, 40-year-old Karkaria had joined a local agency, Orbit Travel, in his young days, moving to SOTC in 1991 in their trade fairs division. SOTC was later taken over by the Kuoni Group and Karkaria moved steadily up the corporate ladder. "Without my wife Tarana’s support I don’t think I would be able to manage the huge responsibility I have at work. She is a housewife and looks after our two daughters, Simran (aged six) and Simone (four) and the house so well that I am able to give my full concentration at work and am also able to travel out of India 15-20 days a month,” he remarks. Having become a navar, Karkaria used to go as a mobed to the agiary during muktad "till I got completely involved with work. I go to the fire temple every day whenever I am in the country.” His mother Silloo "is very religious and has instilled the values of being honest, transparent and helpful to all.”

Today’s Parsi youth are more religious, more competitive in nature and have big dreams, he believes. "Gone are the days when they would think of just doing a regular nine to five job. They are more adventurous and take the required risks to succeed. They believe in themselves,” he notes.

Sanguine about the future for the community in India and worldwide, Karkaria asserts: "Just live and let live and help those in need. Work towards building a great environment financially and morally for the next generation, create something beautiful to make their life as good as or better than yours.”