Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor
Trafalgar Travel Agency. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Starting January 2008, Trafalgar Travel will begin its Caribbean expansion plans in Barbados where, last month, it sealed the deal to begin operations there. The move comes at a time when the 12-year-old company has been named the Caribbean's leading travel agency, having won the World Travel Awards 2007.
This phenomenal achievement i with the vision of the management of the company to be the largest in the region. St. Kitts will be next in the company's list of other English-speaking Caribbean countries where it plans to set up branches.
Leading the charge is chief executive officer Conrad Graham, who, in an exclusive interview, tells The Sunday Gleaner that since the company's inception, there has been steady growth in all areas except back office operations. "We are heavy into cost containment," he says. The deal in Barbados was sealed a week ago Trafalgar Travel is merging operations with a family-owned business whose owners have now retired.
Branch network expansion
Graham says the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM), facilitated the "exporting" of a Jamaican-owned business to the islands. "As a philosophy, the CSM is good; when we made up our mind, our bank (Scotiabank), facilitated the process," he relates.
To register a company in Barbados takes only one day from filling out the documents online to collecting them. The entire start-up process takes a few weeks.
Trafalgar Travel started with three members of staff and today it stands at 117. The local branch network expansion began in 2001. There are now 11 branches in seven parishes, with two more set to open in the new year. Two of the major strategies for business success employed by Trafalgar Travel are cutting-edge technology, and the training of staff to multi-task. These have paid dividends, as Graham ranks his team among "the best in the world, the best team in any company. I believe in our people. Our turnover rate is less than one per cent per year."
Graham says part of the reason for their excellent performance lies in the "pay-to-productivity policy" which means employees are rewarded financially-based on the level of performance they put in. All levels of staff, he states, have an incentive programme, so they know that in addition to company benefits, that they are entitled to, they earn what they work for.
Another strategy is the multi-racial component of the mix. "We are like a mini United Nations," Graham says, adding that, given the nature of the business and the international mix of clients, this is only logical. Plus, the company offers a 24-hour service so that someone is always on call.
Click of a mouse
So, how does the company compete with customers' freedom to access travel plans with the click of a mouse? Trafalgar Travel actually encourages customers to go to the Internet first, because from early in the game, the Internet was seen as another tool rather than a competitor. According to Graham, the Internet is efficient but not necessarily cheaper, and whereas it works well for point-to-point bookings, if a ticket is complicated (several destinations), it then needs an experienced travel agent to design the best route that suits the particular client - something that cannot necessarily be handled by the Internet.
"No Internet can match a travel agent who has the years of experience, "Graham asserts. However, he discloses that come January 2008, the award-winning agency will launch its own Internet service for customers who prefer that avenue to conduct business with us.
Another tool at the fingertips of prospective travellers is a range of low fares offered by different airlines. Trafalgar Travel's response is that low-cost carriers are options for customers, but the treatment equates to the fares, and they (cheap fare providers) do not have the ease of transfers in case that becomes necessary; but they serve their purpose and people want choices.
Low-cost carrier
With all the challenges surrounding national carrier Air Jamaica, The Sunday Gleaner elicited Graham's views on how the situation should be handled and whether the outcome would affect the top agency's business future.
Citing the case of Singapore, a smaller country than Jamaica but with the greatest airline in the world, Graham said it does not have a low-cost carrier and has just invested in some of the new A380 crafts to come out of the factory. "If Air Jamaica can't function on its own, then it must consider a merger as well as find a proper business model and make it work," argues Graham.
The airline will fail if it does not have the right management, he opines, pointing to the tendency to sell something in order to make it work or cut back a company to make it grow. He believes the new Air Jamaica model should be one that best suits the country, and we should not be afraid to seek help if necessary. But whatever happens, he does not see it affecting Trafalgar Travel because "we sell our own experience in business."
Announcement of the top agency's win came a week before the recently concluded World Travel Market gathering in London, England. However, presentation of the award will take place in The Turks and Caicos Islands on December 12.
