OMAN — The importance of India to Oman Air's sales strategy was underlined recently when the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman held its India Business Review and sales team orientation program in Jaipur, India. The event, held on April 2-3, was presided over by Oman Air Chief Commercial Officer Abdulrazaq Alraisi, supported by the airline's general manager for worldwide sales and senior manager for sales in Asia Pacific. It brought together Oman Air's country manager for India, district sales managers from Oman Air's 10 Indian stations and the management and sales team heads of its GSAs in India. “Oman Air's India Business Review was an excellent way of bringing together our sales staff and partners and agreeing a way forward which will bring commercial success through planned and coordinated working,” said Alraisi in praising praised the event. “The focus of the business review and sales team orientation was to evaluate market conditions and develop smart solutions for optimizing revenues on every flight between Oman and India. He said Oman Air's staff in India has been doing a very good job but “we must not relax in our efforts to ensure that Oman Air becomes the airline of choice within the country”. Alraisi said the airline has received a number of outstanding presentations during the sessions, which offered insights into some of the desired pricing strategies and selling processes to help it optimize performance. These were complemented by a training session on dimensions of professional selling, conducted by Carew International. “I would like to thank all those who participated, especially those team members who took a very active role and came up with prize-winning smart solutions, and I look forward to the ideas and inspiration that emerged from the event brought to fruition over the coming weeks and months,” he said. India is a vital market for Oman Air. In recent years, India has also become a major destination for Omani students and is attracting increasing numbers of medical tourists from Oman. These reflect the excellent political and economic relationship shared by the two countries and coupled by the fact that Indian nationals represent one of the largest expatriate communities residing in Oman. At the same time, the number of tourists from India to Oman continues to grow, with the current level of around 12,000 Indian leisure visitors a year expected to triple by 2015. – SG
