On Jan. 7th and 8th, a two-day workshop was held by Marcopolo Iran-Touring Holding Company at Khazar Azadi Hotel. In the event, wherein the participants were the representatives of travel agencies across Iran, the opportunity was provided in a way that the active agents in tourism field could get familiar with one another in an amiable atmosphere.
Mr. Akhavan, the chair of the board of directors of Marcopolo Iran Touring Company, gave such a perspective on Marcopolo activities: since, in Iran, many travel agencies are involved in marketing, selling and at the same time operating the tours, Marcopolo intends to take responsibility for offering and operating the tours without getting into the sales part or having direct relation with the clients. As a result, travel agencies take the role of sales agents and offer the packages prepared by Marcopolo to the clients and Marcopolo as a wholesaler operates the packages. In addition to the Iran-Touring Department, Marcopolo Tourism Development Company offers other services via its other 6 affiliated companies.
Amir Hossein Jafari, the managing director of Marcopolo Iran Touring Holding Company, announcing that in near future, Marcopolo intends to offer 30 percent of its stocks in stock market, pointed out, “it is the first time that a travel company is introduced to the stock market.” He believes that working with Marcopolo would be a great stride towards developing Iran touring activities. He continued that package tours to different parts of Iran have been designed and sent to travel agencies. So the agents can offer tours to their clients in any season at any time of the year without being worried whether or not the tours would be operated. Marcopolo, enjoying close relations with different hotels and utilizing trained staff, is able to operate the tours in the best way.
At this congress, other directors of Marcopolo group introduced different sections of the company to the participants. Mr. Zahedi, the managing director of Marcopolo Tourism Regions Development Company, Mr. Sarkandi, the managing director of Marcopolo E-Tourism Services Company, and Dr. Moghadam, the managing director of Marcopolo Tourism Training Center, provided the audience with different services any of these sections could offer.
From among the participants, Mr. Kazemi, the representative of ‘Shiraz Ario Tour’, positively assessed the services offered by Marcopolo group and believed that any cooperation with Marcopolo group would result in promoting tourism services and making the operation of them as specialized as possible. He also believes that offering wholesaling services would decrease tour operation cost and help the new fledgling agencies, which are still incapable of planning and offering tours, progress in the profession. He concludes that, “in case the idea put forward by Marcopolo is well put into effect, there would be neither high nor low season.”