Travels Thought Leaders

TRANSFORMATION WILL HAVE A CLEAR IMPACT ON THE TRADITIONAL MODELS

‘DIGITALTRANSFORMATION WILL HAVE A CLEAR IMPACT ON THE TRADITIONAL MODELS’

Travel service providers, even for us in the visa services space, will have to adapt to these changes in consumer behaviour, innovate and be first movers in bringing fresh solutions driven by technology to customers, elucidates Zubin Karkaria, CEO, VFS Global Group

Your contribution to the travel and tourism industry has been path breaking. What are your key understandings from the sector?

I started out in this industry back in college, over 30 years ago – first, helping out a friend in his travel firm, then being part of India’s foremost travel companies – and all along it’s been quite a journey – literally and figuratively! These were the years that coincided with the emergence of a newly liberalised economy in India and an overwhelming growth in the number of outbound travellers. Somewhere along this way, tourism pivoted from being the pastime or aspiration of a few, to a sort of must-do requirement for most urban citizens, not just in India but around the world. Judging by the record high in the numbers of global visa applications VFS Global witnessed in 2018, this tribe is growing! Technological innovation and changes in customer expectations in just the last decade or so have dramatically changed the way the industry functions. But what remains the same is that the Customer is still the undisputed King, more today than ever before, demanding conveniences and services delivered to his doorstep, or his smartphone! The sector is fast-changing, with new solutions being introduced in some part of the globe or the other with great frequency – each one raising the bar in convenience higher than the last.

As an industry professional, what are your key learning and findings?

The industry has evolved