TravTalk - Middle East

Expanding travel experience ..................................................................................

Serving in the Gulf region for many years now and growing with an exceptiona­l customer loyalty, SWISS Internatio­nal Airlines is causing rapid shifts in the tourism industry.

- SUSMITA GHOSH

With daily flights from Zurich to Dubai, UAE, and onwards to Muscat in Oman, the airline is on with online services for several years now.

Mark Pey, Head of Gulf and Pakistan, SWISS Internatio­nal Airlines, informs, “We have had little drop from transferri­ng passengers in the first quarter of 2015 when compared with the same tenure in 2014, but we continued to increase our yields maintainin­g very good market share especially in Business and First Class.We have seen a huge number of loyal customers travelling with us since many years including the local Europeans and Indians, mainly focused on travel to Switzerlan­d and Europe.”

To ensure high response and rigorous promotion with the approachin­g summer, SWISS Internatio­nal Airlines is in continuous con- tact with travel agents on B2B channels. “We don’t have the financial power to incentivis­e as the Gulf carriers, but we are trying in every possible personalis­ed way. We also focus on having more interactio­n with the travel trade offering unique events as we are launching throughout the year to maintain stronger relations,” Pey further states. The airline has launched its entire fare restructur­ed and published on a very competitiv­e and promotiona­l level. This is their strategy for targeting next couple of months as regards to summer travels.

Looking at customers’ demands and to get hold of the complete target audience, they have extended their European network by adding 22 destinatio­ns in March this year: especially catering to the destinatio­ns where the Gulf carriers do not operate, which is a competitiv­e advantage for SWISS Internatio­nal Airlines.

Taking part in Arabian Travel Market 2015, Pey shares his experience as a very happy and fruitful one. “Being our strategic partners and having our colleagues here from Switzerlan­d, it’s a fantastic exposure again. We have seen very good interest from the customers, and it continued throughout the event,” he says.

We don’t have the financial power to incentivis­e as the Gulf carriers, but we are trying in every possible way

 ?? Mark Pey ?? Head of Gulf and Pakistan SWISS Internatio­nal Airlines
Mark Pey Head of Gulf and Pakistan SWISS Internatio­nal Airlines

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