Bon Voyage

By Ashna Ambre

Richa Goyal Sikri, 37, and her younger sister grew up in the business of travel. Sikri was still in school when she started helping out with small-time jobs in the travel business her parents started in 1973. “There was much to learn. I started learning the way things function quite early,” recalls Sikri, Director-Group Business Development, STIC Travel Group, Gurgaon.

As she grew up, Sikri infused the firm with fresh ideas. While still in her early 20s, she was instrumental in launching a novel idea in India. Under the newly opened Student and Youth vertical of the firm, Sikri brought in the UNESCO endorsed Student Identity Cards. “It is a small plastic card that looks like a credit card. It was launched 60 years ago internationally and helps students create an identity abroad. It covers 126 countries,” informs Sikri. The identity card offers domestic and international discounts to its holders in various spending categories like hostels, air tickets, train tickets, coach passes, etc. “The UNESCO logo created authenticity for the cards and a host of companies were willing to offer discounts only because of it,” says Sikri.

Starting out
Sikri completed her Bachelor’s in Commerce from University of Delhi in 1996 and went on to pursue an MBA from International Management Institute, Delhi before joining the family business full-time. Having seen the business up close and having worked in the firm as a student, Sikri had no doubts about her career choice. “I decided to join the family business as I was always passionate about the business of travel.”

At that time, STIC Group, under the leadership of her father, was mainly involved in the representation of international airlines in India. Sikri stepped in 16 years ago and changed the dynamics of STIC by introducing a slew of innovations related to the travel business. However, this was not easily achieved.

“Being a young entrepreneur in a second generation family business was a challenge. Convincing overly experienced clients and getting through their lens of underestimation took a lot of persuasion,” says Sikri of the hurdles she had to overcome.

Anchored right
With Sikri’s entry, STIC has come a long way. From only representing international airlines, STIC is now the face of nearly 20 international travel and tourism brands in the country. “We now represent airlines, cruises, hotels and resorts. It has been a long journey but we want to go deeper into the travel market,” says Sikri of her ambition for STIC.

Within the airline representation business where the company has clients like Air China, Aero Mexico, and Caribbean Airlines, the company handles a gamut of services including marketing, administration, back office support, sales and product and market analysis.

Laurent Recoura, Regional Director-Middle East, India and Africa, United Airlines, has been one of the firm’s clients here. “STIC gave us a good market overview, valuable information, relevant data and a detailed analysis of the market dynamics,” says Recoura of his company’s experience with the firm.

It was a natural progression to move on to other sectors related to travel, like cruise liners which were gaining currency then.

Sikri expanded operations by incorporating a cruise division in 1997 that carried out similar functions (like for the airlines) for Holland America Line and Windstar Cruises for whom they work with local travel agents, tour operators, besides corporate clients and high net worth individuals (HNIs).

From airlines to cruises, Sikri steered STIC to a hotels and resorts division.

Here, the STIC Group provides hotel and resort companies with a sales team, on-ground reservation and other operational support. “One of our biggest clients is Wyndham Hotel Group in India,” informs Sikri. Wyndham is the world’s largest and most diverse hotel company with approximately 7,340 hotels worldwide.

Sikri started the tours division, which provides travel and tours concierge services to HNIs and select corporate houses under the brand name ‘STIC Holiday Sensations’. Clearly targeting the affluent, Sikri also ensured STIC had access to 350 aircraft and helicopters, which would enable them to provide charter services for corporate, pilgrimage, and tourist travel. STIC has a cargo division too.

Business dynamics
“The journey has been good so far but many challenges have come our way. Being in the business of representing luxury clients, sustaining their presence has been quite a task,” says Sikri, adding that it has not been easy to create awareness of new products and services is a task.

For instance, introducing customers to the concept of luxury cruises and holiday spending during the late ’90s when the market was not so evolved was quite an effort.

Another problem for Sikri is availability of talent or rather, the lack of it. “Creating the right talent pool, training and, most importantly, retraining them is a huge investment of time and resources-and it is always a gamble. The work culture today is such that employees look for instant gratification with no work ethics.”

India ahead
Until now, STIC’s focus was on brand creation of international clients in India, but Sikri wants to go the other way now. She wants to promote Indian brands, including airlines and hotels, abroad. Moving in this direction, Sikri started operations in Singapore in 2013.

The Singapore move is also a pilot-if it works out, more locations could follow. STIC’s current workforce of 224 employees would expand dramatically, if expansion goes according to plan. India is fast emerging as a major travel destination. Initiatives in this industry offer a lot of scope for a variety of brands to enter the market. “Newer brands should be able to capitalize on opportunities. The next level for STIC would come from both home and abroad,” says Sikri.

Considering that STIC began with a seed capital of only  Rs. 1,000 four decades ago, it has been a remarkable journey across various verticals. STIC is poised to grow year-on-year around 30 percent crossing sales turnover of Rs. 700 crore for the current fiscal.

> Entrepreneur India April 2013
Related Posts

    How to choose a restaurant location
    How to make your business disability-friendly
    Inclusive economic growth through entrepreneurship
    Cafe Sundance is a safe bet for a quick meal
    Badal Jain and Raja Jain have built a business around making weddings look like a film sequence