Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Faisal and Dr. Salman Al-Sudairi jointly cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the ITL World office in Jeddah. Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, Philippines Ambassador Tago Ezzedin and Siddeek Ahmed, CMD of ITL World, along with other dignitaries are present. — Courtesy photo. Hassan Cheruppa and Renad Ghanem Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Faisal inaugurated ITL World – TMC's 25th branch in its Asian network in Jeddah – in the presence of local and foreign dignitaries. Indian film celebrity and politician R. Sarath Kumar, Panakkad Sayed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, Dr. Salman Al-Sudairi, Philippines Ambassador Tago Ezzedin and Indian Consul General Faiz Ahmed Kidwai and other distinguished guests from the travel industry attended. “We are grateful to all, especially our dedicated staff, for the successful launch of our office in Jeddah — ITL World's largest in Saudi Arabia and its15th office in the Middle East,” said Siddeek Ahmed, Chairman and Managing Director after the opening. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Siddeek said Saudi Arabia is an excellent market, especially with the thrust by the Saudi authorities on the tourism sector. “It is a virgin territory, especially with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's vision of integrating women in the workforce.” “We were one of the first companies to register to induct women in our offices, and today we have women working in all our branches,” he said. “The Saudi employees are willing learners, and are ready to develop their skills under trained professionals, and that's why we are able to offer premium services — A to Z services,” he said. When asked whether it will be for an elite niche market, he said, “We will cater to everybody and try to offer services that suit everybody. That's why I said A to Z.” He said ITL World is a major player in the region and with our local positioning in GCC and India, combined with the considerable regional presence of our partners, we provide unmatched solutions for our client's travel and tourism needs. “Our mission is to employ technological innovation coupled with personalized services to deliver satisfaction of the highest standards,” Siddeek said. Saudi Gazette spoke to the women employed in ITL World, and they oozed optimism. Maha Taki, Customer Relation Officer at ITL World, Dubai branch said that she expects the new branch to be successful, especially that the leisure and tourism market is huge. “The Saudi market is very promising, with a special stature in the area, especially Jeddah because it is close to Makkah and Madinah. But it is not the Umrah packages only, it is the leisure and holiday package we offer.” She said that the new branch in Jeddah, which has a separate women's section, has raised the company's profile, and ITL is growing fast in Saudi Arabia. “With more women joining the work force we will concentrate on this niche market. We deal with corporates, and we present them several services, we work with VIP clients also,” she said. Marwa Abdul Aziz, tour consultant at TLS, said due to her previous experience in the tourism sector she believes that it would be easy for her to provide varied services for women and families. She said the new branch has sophisticated technical support that would help in their presentations, aside from the company's innovations and dedicated packages. “We intend to use our strong and ever growing network to serve out customers and make them feel at home, be at any part of the world,” said Rafeeq Mohammed, Regional Head – GCC. “Our Disney portfolio, Maldivian Holidays and packages to family friendly countries will be our featured offers,” he said, adding that the packages vary with client's choices. Zamil Kasim, Business Development Manager – GCC, interjected by saying we are focusing on “domestic tourism too. Our packages are for the UNESCO destinations in the Kingdom (Madain Saleh, Dirriyah etc.).” He quipped “there's even golf tourism in the Kingdom and the region.” Rafeeq said the value we provide for holidays in Disney packages come with choice of cruises too. “We have tie-ups with major cruise lines all over the world, and our staff have been trained to sell and serve,” he added. The Jeddah office has an additional feature — a movie room. “We are in the process of building a video library of all possible destinations and our services,” Shehazad Ahmed, Holidays Manager, said. “Any person or family wanting a choice destination can view their preferences and the services we provide in this movie room before deciding. We can also help in the decision-making by providing other areas that could suit their preference,” he said.
