The market tells you how to get there

KEEPING abreast with market trends is one of the key aspects of succeeding in the travel industry. Anthony Lim, managing director of Anthony Tours, not only has the passion for travel but picks up on trends, a combination that has put his business on top of the competition.

Started in 1978, Anthony Tours was then a humble enterprise with just Lim and his wife running the show. He set up shop because he saw there was a market to tap in providing outbound tour packages.

"There were not a lot of outbound tours and existing travel agents were not pursuing that aspect of the industry aggressively, so we started with tours to the Philippines as it was one of the attractions for Brunei travellers at that time," says Lim.

In the same year, he expanded his workforce and started hiring agents.

"At that time we were the leaders for outbound tours but the market started getting more competitive," says Lim. "Back then the national carrier, Royal Brunei Airlines, didn't really fly to a lot of destinations so we had to work with them and other airline carriers that flew to Brunei to come up with attractive outbound packages."

Competing with countries like Malaysia and Singapore was difficult because unlike these two neighbours, not a lot of airlines fly to Brunei.

"We worked closely with Royal Brunei Airlines and then when the industry became more competitive we started concentrating on other travel products that we could offer, one of them being tour packages for the Muslim market in Brunei," he says.

"China became one of the popular tour destinations to go to but for the Muslim customers we came up with tour packages which included halal meals, which until today is popular."

Anthony Tours also spotted a segment of the market made up of students who need to travel. Lim then got his company recognised by the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC).

"The students who hold the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) will benefit because they get student prices from anything from flights, to hotels and restaurants and we are the only travel agency in Brunei that is recognised by the ISTC so we can reach any student across the globe who wants to make travel bookings from Anthony Travel and give them deals," he says.

Seeing the benefit for students holding an ISIC card has prompted Lim to encourage students to register for a card so they could take advantage of the many privileges that Anthony Tours can provide.

"We can arrange for tours to Europe, to Singapore all at a special price for student who have the ISIC card and it is very popular," he says.

Anthony Tours has continued to dominate the outbound tour segment of the industry and to this day remains a leading company that send outbound tours to destinations within the region.

"We started working very closely with the Brunei Tourism Board and there was a growing trend in inbound tours from Korea and China, so we pursued this providing attractive packages for incentive trips and group tours," he says.

Now the Korean and Chinese tour groups are the largest inbound tour groups to Brunei.

Lim adds that running his business is not just following trends but sincerity and providing good quality service are also important ingredients in being successful.

"You have to provide the type of sincerity and service that people will want to come back to," he says.

The travel industry is a very personalised service which was why he "gave up" on modern technology.

"We tried to introduce a VoIP telephone system to our business because we thought that customers would find it easier, but instead it caused so much inconvenience for customers to dial the extension number and listen to the automated operator, that we took it out and now we want our customers to know that each phone call will be answered by an Anthony travel agent," he says.

One of the recent challenges he has to deal with is the indirect impact of the global financial crisis that has already cut down the South Korean tour groups and charters and he predicts that in total, the industry expects at least a 40-60 per cent decrease in the inbound tours from Korea and China this year.

Lim says he will not lose focus on inbound tours while concentrating more on the incentive packages market that he is currently offering local companies.

"Incentive tours are like business trips where a company will cover the travel cost and expense of its employees to reward them for their job," explains Lim.

He says that he will remain positive because although the population in Brunei is limited there is repeat business.

The Brunei Times