In an exclusive discussion with Insights Success Magazine, Amit Jain, Director at Rising Star Tours & Travels talks about his company and gives his insight on the current industry trends.
IS: Kindly brief us about you and your journey since the beginning of your career.
I completed diploma in travel trade in 1990 and eight years later, I started Rising Star Tours & Travels. Being an avid traveler filled with perpetual fernweh, I identified the existing gaps in the tour and travel industry in India and the challenges that travelers face on a regular basis. This acknowledgment led to the foundation of Rising Star Tours and Travels—a one-stop destination for all the traveling needs. Rising Star Tour & Travels is aimed to make travelling easier and simpler that almost every individual in the society can travel across the world and enjoy the boundless beauty of the nature. I started this entrepreneurial journey alone, but was supported by family. With sheer dedication and relentless efforts in making this startup a success, I established a wide network of tour operators first in India and later, in the overseas market. Meanwhile, company achieved affiliations from the reputed organizations in the tour & travel industry such as TAAI, TAFI, IATA, ADITOI, and OTOAI. and approved by Ministry Of Tourism, & Government of India.
Delivering the best of services at the prices that customer is ready-to-pay is always the focus of Rising Star Tour & Travels. The company never compromised on services part and this reflects in its growth over the years. Rising Star Tour & Travels won the Best Outbound Tour Operator Award in 2016 and Golden Star Award in 2018.
IS: How do you describe yourself in one-word or one-sentence?
Amit Jain is a catalyst for change and a strategist for success.
IS: What is your source of motivation?
Nature and its beautiful landscapes.
IS: Kindly tell us about the challenges you faced to withstand the complexities of the industry.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was the money-centric mindset of customers. The primary focus of the customers was money, and then the travel experience. We, however, were clear from the start that we have to deliver the best of services and travel experience, even at the lowest budget that the customer asks for. Since inception, we neither compromised on services part nor on customer satisfaction. And, this reflects the rapid growth of our company over the years.
IS: Kindly describe in detail about your company and its unique services/products.
It’s our customer-centric approach that sets us apart from the rest. As we are committed to providing an
unparalleled level of customer service and value, we have a dedicated team that remains available 24*7
to assist the customers and address their queries at the earliest. The proactive communication, short
turnaround time, affordable and customized tour packages, and an extensive professional network are
our USPs. To deliver impeccable travel experience and service par excellence is our commitment. And
therefore, strategic quality control processes are in place to ensure that no aspect of the travel is left to
chance.
IS: Brief us about the current industry scenario from your perspective.
Technologies have taken almost every industry by storm, fuelling its growth and digitizing its operations. Banking and finance and Automotive are always the early adopters of the latest technological advancements, and now, the tour and travel industry is also making way to join the club. With Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality, the travel companies can deliver a world-class experience to the customers and tap on the unreachable but potential customers. Intelligent chatbots that handle uncountable bulk customer queries in a human-like way, VR Hardware or 360-Degree video creation using VR to entertain travelers or guide them on cruise interior, and real-time tracking of the luggage are some of the examples how technology is being used in the sector. Clearly, the future of travel industry looks promising enough from technology’s point of view where automation and agility will invade the traditional landscape.
IS: State us your major achievements and your company’s achievements under your leadership.
We are honored to receive Golden Star Award of ‘The Leading Tours & Travel Agency of the Year’ (Delhi). The credit goes our team, their endless dedication, unbeatable love and strong support that kept us motivated and work hard to achieve this award.
Apart from offering various bespoke travel packages for domestic and international destinations, we organize frequent trips for visually impaired (VI) people to various tourist destinations in India and we are the first one to offer this unique itinerary. Since the first trip, we have received many queries for such trips; people all over the country want us to continue conducting such tours. We took a pledge to change the life of at least 1000 VI people a year through travel. If all things fall into place, we will create a platform for people with disabilities to travel to even the farthest corner of the world with ease. It’s the vision of RSTT to create a platform where one disabled community becomes the support system of another community of differently disabled. Till date, we have organized 4 successful domestic trips for visually impaired people and of late we have organized the first foreign tour. 25 VI persons and volunteers of Rising Star Khilte Chehre have enjoyed the 5-day tour to Bangkok, Thailand.
IS: State your passions, aims, and goals.
Exploring nature’s beauty all over the world is not only my passion but the aim of my life. And, as far as our future goals are concerned, we are determined to achieve a turnover of INR 100 crores in the next two years. As Indian tour & travel industry is still fragmented and relatively small, opening a franchise model to become a helping hand to small travel agencies is also one of our top priorities.
IS: How do you see yourself and your company in the near future?
For the next couple of years, Rising Star Tours & Travels will aim to go digital and start a franchise
model. As a responsible corporate citizen, the plan is to strengthen the digital presence of the firm and
introduce a franchise model in order to uplift the small travel agencies. Moreover, it’s the principal
objective of Rising Star Tours & Travels to make the brand a common household name.
IS: What would you advise to the budding entrepreneurs?
My advice to the budding entrepreneurs would be that this is the one industry which have a huge scope of growth with minimum investment as compared to other industries and till 2025 it will grow 3 times which is it now contributing 10% of the world total gdp.
