THE winners of the Tourism Award at this year’s Casey Cardinia Business Awards have achieved a remarkable amount in such a short time in the country.
Nayaz Noor and Suchitra Reddy are the CEO and director of the Berwick-based Safir Tours and what they’ve accomplished in just three-and-a-half years in Australia is mind-blowing, as RUSSELL BENNETT discovers.
BETWEEN them, Nayaz Noor and his partner Suchitra Reddy have more than 60 years of experience in the travel industry having both spent over three decades with tour operators and travel agencies in the United States, the Middle East and India.
But the latest chapter of their story has brought them to Australia – where they had no family and few connections until a few short years ago.
But the challenge of setting up their business in a completely new environment is one they’ve truly excelled at.
Safir Tours is a destination management company that customises all its itineraries based on the requirements of its clients.
Born in India, Nayaz and Suchitra predominantly work with Indian clients from their home country, the Middle East and the United States who are looking to travel to Australia.
“We started operating 1 March 2013,” Nayaz said.
“We were wondering when we were going to get our first client. Our first client was an Indian student studying in Adelaide whose parents were going to visit Australia.
“She wanted things set up here for them to visit Sydney, the Gold Coast, and Cairns so we put things together.”
Nayaz and Suchitra were initially excited, yet somewhat sceptical, when setting up their business in Australia.
“It was all new to us – the whole business environment in Australia is very different to what we were used to in India or the US,” Nayaz said.
“It took us a little bit of time to understand how it works.
“The Indian market is very, very complicated. It’s very fragmented – nothing is set in stone and even the wealthiest of travellers will check with five different agencies and check everywhere online to try and get the lowest price.
“When most people in India get to know us, they know that once they send their clients to Safir Tours they won’t have to worry. They can sleep easy.”
The company’s strength lies in its hands-on approach, the worldwide experience of its founders and the strong relationship it holds with its partners and suppliers.
“We had to build up our contacts slowly,” Nayaz said.
“We also exhibit every year at a Tourism Australia event in India. Every year they have a trade show called the India Travel Mission (ITM). I just returned from India – I was there for two weeks at the end of August.
“Every year it’s in a different city and they invite between 100 and 110 travel agents from all over the country. We were with about 60-70 Australian suppliers from here.”
Nayaz and Suchitra organise itineraries for travellers headed to Australia with the simple mission of making the experience as smooth as possible.
“Everything is there in a document that outlines what they need to do every day – if there’s a bus tour they need to catch, where exactly they need to catch the bus from, things like that,” Nayaz said.
“The prices are finalised with the agent, the agent sells it to the client, then we get the money and we set up everything and the client arrives.
“We don’t just do individuals and honeymoon couples, or school groups – the cricket World Cup was a big thing for us.
“We had almost 1300 people from India just for the World Cup. That’s what put us on top as a player to contend with.”
The majority of the people that Nayaz and Suchitra help to facilitate trips to Australia for are Indians – whether they’re from India, the Middle East or the United States.
“Both of us were born in India and spent quite a few years in the US,” Nayaz said.
“We’re also the only associate member of the United States Tour Operators Association from Australia.
“People thought we were crazy to leave a good business in India, uproot our kids from school and go to a place where we don’t know anybody.
“Now we have a lot of friends – we even created a Facebook forum for India-Australia travel.
“We’re very happy with what we did. I think we achieved quite a bit in the past three-and-a-half years.
“The second year was phenomenal for us – the volume was much higher than we expected – and this year we stabilised it.
“We’re very excited – we wouldn’t have done it any other way. The suppliers love us and we love them. We’re always looking for something new – that’s what keeps us going.”
Nayaz and Suchitra are constantly reinventing their business brand to stay fresh, and they’re looking for their niche in sports travel.
“We’re trying to position ourselves as someone who can promote sport,” Nayaz said.
“We’re in touch with Tennis Australia – we want to promote the Australian Open – and there’s also the Grand Prix in Melbourne.”
But, most importantly, they’re trying to provide an experience that is a little out of the box – one that’s extraordinary.
“We’re constantly trying to create these new products and new experiences,” Nayaz said.
“When I was in India recently for the ITM my mantra to the travel agents that I met was that ‘you know what a destination management company can do, you know what a service provider can do so I’m not going to talk about that. I’m going to talk to you about experiences, and a new destination, and an itinerary’.
“If they remember me they’ll remember me for the destination that I promoted, which nobody did.
“They all promoted Sydney, the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Cairns – which is what the Indians do.
“We’re trying to tell them to come out here, go to Mt Bulla, do something different.
“There’s Puffing Billy, let’s go to the Yarra Valley and get a food and wine-tasting experience.
“These are things that aren’t being promoted to their fullest. Everyone says let’s do the Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island, the MCG and that’s it.
“The Indian traveller comes here for 10 days and wants to see the whole of Australia.
“I say ‘listen, I’ve been in Melbourne for three-and-a-half years and I haven’t even seen everything in Melbourne’.
“Tourism Australia is doing a great job trying to promote different experiences – we just want people to come out and see a little bit more of Victoria. There are so many great things here.”
