SOTC Travel celebrates 70 years of
travel
Mumbai, January 11: SOTC Travel, marked the 70th anniversary of its
founding year in 1949. SOTC’s first office was opened in Mumbai with 5
employees. A major breakthrough came in 1976, when SOTC handled its first tour
group visiting the US during the bicentennial celebrations. 1981 saw another
breakthrough when SOTC Package Tours began active advertising, with the first
creative in the newspapers.
Today it has
grown to a network of over 160 touch points in India and NRI markets. Over the
years, the company has attained leadership position in various travel
segments-Escorted Group Holidays, Customized Holidays, Domestic Holidays,
Incentive Travel, Business Travel and Foreign Exchange.
Speaking on
the momentous occasion, Vishal Suri, Managing Director, SOTC Travel said, “It
is indeed a celebratory moment for us at SOTC. We believe in constantly
evolving and adapting to the changing needs and expectations of our customers
to create and deliver magical moments and seamless travel solutions. Moving
forward, we will continue to focus on Value Creation for all our stake holders
– customers, employees and partners, by further enhancing our processes, investing
in technology and innovation to deliver delightful customer experiences.”
The company
aims to further strengthen its business with an array of innovations and
launches across multiple travel categories. The plans include new product
formats and extension of premium offerings.
Things you did not know about SOTC
•
In
Switzerland, the town of Engelberg was renamed SOTC Indian Village in 1999.
•
SOTC is the
only Indian tour operator to be awarded the prestigious Friends of Thailand
Award in 2000.
•
In 2003, a customer
travelling with an SOTC Bhraman Mandal tour to Europe came back to India and
wrote a book titled ‘Parikrama of Western Europe’. The book is an account of
his journey – from the decision-making stage to homecoming – and talks of his
experience as an SOTC customer.
•
Pioneers in
introducing the Holiday Now Pay Later facility
•
Pioneered in
designing and marketing of escorted tours to cosmopolitan travellers in India.
•
Introduced
the concept of Box Holidays.
• SOTC was the
first travel group to create a tour around the Seven New Wonders of the World.
•
Pioneers in
creating the concept of a Holiday Bazaar.
•
Cost Saver
Tours were first introduced by SOTC.
• SOTC Travel
is the pioneer in Indian travel space to enter the integrated spiritual +
leisure segment with the introduction of Spiritual Tours named Darshans.
•
Launched easy
financing options for customers such as Holidays on EMI, Holiday Investment
Plan, tie-ups with banks for cash back options.
•
Pioneers in
introducing regional tours ‘Darshanam’ for the South India Market.
•
Pioneers to
introduce SOTC The Enchanted Journey with YRF films that gave the travellers a
real-life experience of the magnificent spectacle they had seen unfurl only on
the screen.
Milestone
2018
Launched
Sales Analytics.
2017
SOTC entered the
Travel E Commerce space with an all new sotc.in portal, offering exciting new
features. The new website is built on SOTC’s Omni-channel approach which is
customer-centric and helps deliver an integrated digital experience to our
customers and a desire to use technology to allow customers to engage
seamlessly with us across our physical & digital platforms.
First to
introduced Travel Merchandise ‘SOTC Holiday Essentials.’
2016
Kuoni India
rebranded to SOTC as part of a brand transition post change in control &
Kuoni Group exiting Tour Operating entities globally.
Released its
new TVC, asks Indians not to postpone their Holidays & make holidays a
priority.
SOTC unveiled
its new brand logo. The new logo uses distinct tag lines for each of the
business segments - For Holidays, For Incentive Travel and For Business Travel.
2015
Launched a
brand campaign for Indians to prioritize their holidays. The campaign
communicated a strong statement of looking at Vacation Deprivation as a disease
and a holiday as the only medicine to cure it.
2014
Received the
prestigious Certificate of Registration for operating Quality Management System
which complies with the requirement of ISO 9001:2008 for its corporate travel
business.
2013
Launched a
television commercial in line with the new brand architecture. Commercial
highlighted the brand promise of 'We are for holidays' and inspired consumers
across segments to stand up for their holidays.
2011
Launched the
first ever Holiday Report 2011. Launched Perfect Moments; need based concepts
for the Indian traveler that included mind body soul, away from it all, the
world is mine, undiscovered destinations and romantic escapes.
2005
First to
launch franchisee network.
2002
FIT Holidays
was launched to market and operate international and domestic holidays for
individual travellers.
1997
Kuoni Group
acquired 100% equity in SOTC in 1997.
1996
Kuoni Group
entered India by acquiring a 51% stake in SOTC.
About SOTC Travel Limited
SOTC Travel Limited (Formerly SOTC Travel Pvt. Ltd.) is
a step-down subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Group; held through its
Indian listed subsidiary, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL). SOTC India is a
leading travel and tourism company active across various travel segments
including Leisure Travel, Incentive Travel and Business Travel.
SOTC was established in 1949. Since then, it has escorted
lakhs of travelers across the globe for more than 68 years to various
destinations around the world. It is one of the leaders in segments, namely
Escorted Group Tours, Customized Holidays, Holidays of India and Incentive
Travel amongst others. A new age innovative holiday maker, SOTC strives to make
holidays a priority for every Indian. ‘We are for holidays’ and we want Indians
to prioritize their holidays.
