Skymark Travels celebrates three years

By Cheranka Mendis

Skymark Travels, which specialises with personalised and courteous value added service, recently celebrated its third year of success.

Managing Partner Rimzi Nazeer who left a comfortable job at a respected blue chip to follow his gut feeling and open shop in 2008 is today a happy man.

Now a holder of IATA BSP (Billing and Settlement Plan), a success achieved even before its target the company is doing well and good, Nazeer said.

“We are into outbound ticketing and packaging. We market ourselves as providers of round-the-clock travel assistance and aim at giving the best experience to our clients,” Nazeer said. “We are also looking at the inbound business as Sri Lanka readies itself to welcome 2.5 million tourists by 2016.”

Nazeer stated that the position he is now in was his ideal job 10-15 years ago. “I love this job. I believe this has been in my blood. The interest to this field came during my A/L year because my cousin was then in the trade. As soon as I finished my studies I entered the industry from the position of a trainee and went on to become a board member.” he said.

“The trade has a lot of glamour in it. We have gotten to know a lot of people from different walks of life. I love this trade. This is my bread and butter.” Having being in the field for over 25 years Nazeer agreed that things certainly are looking bright up ahead.

“Sri Lanka is a very competitive market. However, there is an approximately 2% outside chance of Sri Lanka losing the market due to the lack of internet based marketing such as online ticketing.” Even though the market is not fully threatened by the loss of online ticketing and packaging option now in the long run this would pose a risk for industry development.

 “We shouldn’t have to lose even a minimum percentage of business as the country is poised itself for gaining better business in the near future.”

From his business point people from Spain, Turkey and Middle East loves Sri Lanka as the country offers a full package of adventure and pleasure with the large number of wild life and beaches on offer. “Some claim that this is the best destination in the India-Maldives belt.

They speak highly of the country and as Maldives is an expensive destination most now opt to fly to Sri Lanka.

They are highly satisfied on hotel accommodation to food to everything the country has on offer,” Nazeer pointed out.

Sri Lanka now needs to forget about the war, he noted, “It’s over, it’s finish. We are a country with freedom now. There is no point in hanging on to the war. A six hour drive will take any tourist to the North, in three they can go to down south, and in two to the hill country. We must emphasise on these not talk about war.” Instead the country should look at improving infrastructure of the island and instilling discipline on roads and controlling traffic. After all, the first step out of the airport the tourists do not want to get caught to traffic jams etc., he said. “We must go from A to B not suddenly to Z skipping the middle path.”

With the industry now looking at diversifying their market and placing more importance on developing the regional presence, Nazeer believes that Middle East and India will create lot more business for the country. “We are in the right track now.

The government supports the industry fully. Our image overseas is well recognized. From what visitors tell me they feel it is a land of paradise.”