Learning the Kuoni way
Brendan Crasto, Global Head-kuoni Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Academy talks about expansion plans in South-east Asia and the future of tourism in India.
What are Kuoni Academy’s key focus areas in 2013?
2013 will be a year of consolidation for Kuoni Academy. We completed 10 years in the travel education sector last year, and this year will focus on consolidating our position. Kuoni Academy will introduce 12 new programmes to provide students with the best learning opportunities. Last year, we adopted the Abacus GDS platform for our courses. Our goal is to give exposure to all our students on the various platforms used in the travel industry. At Kuoni Academy, our courses which cover travel and tourism, as well as hospitality, focus on knowledge enhancement and service attitude development. We continue to ensure our students are up to date with current trends in the travel and tourism industry.
Your expansion plans for Kuoni Academy?
For FY 2013-2014, we intend to expand our presence from 15 cities across the
How do you view the potential of tourism in India?
We want to add the professional touch to the tourism industry in India and also internationally
country to 24 cities. These will be a mix of metros and Tier-II cities. We want to add the professional touch to tourism industry not just in India, but also internationally. Therefore, we also plan to establish Kuoni Academies internationally the following year, especially in South East Asia.
The travel and tourism is an industry with a continuous learning process, and it is important to constantly update your knowledge. According to WTTC, from US$8 trillion in 2011, the industry is going to move up to US$8 trillion by 2018. This means, for every 10 people worldwide, one is from the travel industry. With the kind of impetus, there is a requirement of professionals to manage the industry assets, resources and flow of tourists.