SOTC Travel Ltd.’s Post

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Travel Insights, a podcast where we explore latest trends and innovations shaping the travel industry in India. I'm your host, Ekta, and today we are going to dive into leisure travel. We have a special guest today, Mr. Rakesh Baba, Head of Leisure Travels, SOTC. Hello Rakesh, how are you doing today? Hi, thanks for inviting me. It's great to be here and I'm looking forward to an exciting conversation. So let's directly dive into it. SOTC has completed 75 years. That's a huge milestone. Please give us some insights on this. Yes, exactly. I think before I kind of answer this question, let's look at. How and what kind of a world we exist in today, It's it's completely volatile, it's completely uncertain. We call it Luka World brands kind of sunshine and sunset overnight. In such an environment, continuing successfully for 75 years is such a big mark. I think that's an achievement in itself. So we started about 75 years back into the 76th year. We started our core business of sending people on to group tours some 50 years back. 76 was the first time when we had sent our first group to our to America and we never looked back. I think that's a huge journey we have covered up and that's possible because. I think the brand resonates and connects with its customer base very, very well. That's how makes us celebrating our 75th successfully. Eureka, that's great. That's over 7 decades. How has SOTC managed to be India's favorite travel partner and has been relevant over so many years? Yeah, exactly. 7 decades and if we ask any of our customers, obviously the Brandis who close to their hearts and it has come over sustained and continued investments over the last 7 decades. Let's first look at how our country is so diverse. We not one language, we're not one geography, we're not kind of cosmopolitan market where one thing fits for all, you know. So India is very, very diverse and we are a lifestyle brand and when you are a lifestyle. And obviously you have to be close to the customer and that's how SOTC has evolved, not only catering to the core segments, which is our All India markets, but we have gone close to. The customer through our customer connect programs. So today if you go into Gujarat, I would not wonder if I say that we are as much a Gujarati brand as we are an Indian brand. If you go to Bangalore, we are as much a Bangla brand as we are Indian brand. We are very, very well connected with these South Indian markets. So we have gone across the country through our customer connect programs and I think that positions us as not only India's favorite travel partner, but of course many, many regions favorite travel partner as well. Wow, that's great. So can you share something more about how regional customization works? That's an interesting question, ETA and I think we have built over it year on year. OK, let's look at an easy way today. Our product designers are not just product designers sitting back in head office and doing products for our customers in the regions. Our product designers go and connect with the customers. They really come across these cultural diversities. They come across the taste and preferences of the customers. And so do we appoint strong team which is managing quality, we call them as QCM. Not definition. So these guys, they ensure that what our product designers get from the customers are delivered to the core on ground. So whether it is food or the choice of two managers or even the choice of sightseeing and the activities that we do on ground are completely picked up as per that regions choice and preferences. So that's how we have been able to manage it so successfully in so many markets and being the favorite travel partner with them. So that's great how you customize based on regional tastes. So tell me that how SOTC has transformed into a new age travel brand and how has the transition been? Yeah, Before I answer this question, uh, it's, it's very interesting to look at our continued successful journey of last 75 years. Today, I think we are among the only travel brands catering to almost about 3 generations. We are looking at a generation that has been ******** loyal to us. They're completely offline. They need us to assist them. They need travel counselor to face them. We are the next generation that we are talking about. They, they're kind of assisted use of technology. And then we have the most recent generation that is completely ******** use of technology. Let's look at it internally, OK, how are we dimensioned? We are very, very young organization internally. We are media, we have kind of a median at 30 years of age. These are the people who are servicing these customers. So no brand in in such a business environment could stay relevant if we don't satisfy or we don't meet the requirements of internal. As well as external customers. So in an environment where technology have been doing heavy lifting for most of the brands, we leverage technology with the human touch to ensure that we provide. The best assistance to our customers, that's how we have evolved over a period of time and invested in technology to stay relevant to the customer base that we are catering to. That sounds interesting. Now, since AI is the buzzword today, how is SOTC leveraging it? Look at the. Let's look at the way the customer interacts with the technology to. Design and plan their trips. I think the first stage is to ideate A lot of explanation or a lot of content discovery happens around that before you get on to finalizing your trip and then eventually picking up the final elements, which is hotel or sightseeing or budgeting your trip or looking at the best airline visa requirements. We made it happen like this O AI today, uh aids Sotc or supports SOTC with regard to not only ideating trip in a couple of minutes, but also possibly. Designing your complete travel package. Giving you or offering you the best priced components or the best located hotels or the best connected airlines or the best fares. So as I said is that we use technology to assist the customer in a heavy lifting and a technology heavy lifting environment. How we support our customer is today completely AI based. Not only this. The customer journey has been made super easy. Log on to SOTC in and today my website is available in six languages. Wow Visa, which is kind of a very cumbersome process that the customers assume. We have completely digitized the process. Wherever you are, you need not to photocopy your scan through a whole set of documents. We have made it very easy digitized process. You know, be wherever you are, but still, uh, the post sales is happening and we have taken it through our app to ensure that the customers are able to see their complete journey online. So yeah, we are completely integrated today and on top of that, we are using a lot of conversational AI to look at the taste and preferences of the customer to ensure that we remain India's most relevant and the favorite travel brand. That's incredible. What are the travel trends that you see in 2025? It's been evolving fast. Uh, let's look at some of the most recent trends. Kum, for example, is an unprecedented gathering that I would witness over my lifetime. It's not only something that appeals to my parents or the seniors. It is something that appeals to almost everyone. You know, it's, it's something that excites even the younger generation, the ones looking for photo OPS. It's, it's encircling. Almost the entire consumer segments. Let's go further on this spiritual journeys as we are talking about spiritual theme. Chardham is one big trend which is worth watching for in the times to come. And SOTC is all set and ready to ensure that we deliver an impeccable level of service at a destination which was highly fragmented. So we have invested heavily onto the helicopter, we have invested heavily onto the. QCM quality that I spoke about to ensure that we continue to offer high experiences across these destinations. Let's look at another fast evolving trend. I think hills have always been very, very popular among Indians. Whether it is North Indian or people traveling from West and South, hills have been decreased. We have seen mass amount of popularity as far as Kashmir, Himachal, Ladakh is concerned. But I think off let Bhutan has picked up quite well to ensure that we make travel to Bhutan easier as the flight connectivity is. You know little limited, we have invested on flight direct product. So when I say fly direct, we are ensuring or we are investing to offer charter flight or exclusive flight from Ahmedabad and from Bangalore to ensure that we have a complete experience and it's easier and convenient for consumers to travel. I think, uh, the big trend, which is just coming up is, uh, Japan cherry blossom. There's a big phenomena. This is one of the experiences that has been talked about globally and Indians are now behind. We have been seeing a very, very high demand around Japan cherry blossom. It's something that consumers in March and April travel to. Oh, that's a lot to take on once bucket list today, right? Yeah, that's the reality today. That's how Indians are traveling. They are well multiple trips in a year. Apart from short weekends to occasions. They also well multiple long trips during the year. Yeah, there's a lot of impulse traveling happening recently. Me and my friends, we just pack our bags and go for just short trips, sometimes weekends. So how does that happen and how does SOTC cater to that? Yeah, that's how that's how majority of our customer base is traveling today. They just kind of plan at the last minute and SOTC with its tech enablement ensures that we are able to deliver to these customers and service that demand. I think the visa on arrival and visa free destinations make it super easy for customers to avail holidays at these part of the moment. Before we wrap U, do you have any advice for travelers looking to make the most of their leisure trips? Leave a little room for spontaneity. Wise words. Thank you so much Rakesh for sharing your insights with us. Thanks Ekta. It's pleasure to be here. Really enjoy this interaction. Thank you.