Team retention tricky but achievable; 70% of employees with Orient Tours for fifteen years-plus

Dubai, October 2007: More than 70% of Orient Tours’ employees have been with the company in excess of 15 years, according to His Excellency Shaikh Faisal bin Khalid Sultan Al Qassemi, the company’s chairman. He said that this has been achieved by various team-focused strategies but that he has found that a culture of empowerment is key: “Choose the right people, the right partners, the right management, then give them the authority to make and take decisions!” Established in 1982, Orient Tours, Shaikh Faisal said that the company now employs more than 150 professionals and has numerous strategic partners across a variety of markets and services. Shaikh Faisal is also a great believer in giving tangible credit where it is due: “Reward achievements by incentives. Share your profit. Be fair. If the team works hard, pay better,” he said. “Our steadfast team is an example of this culture and they are the main reasons behind our company’s success.” The company has serviced over a million visitors of the region’s estimated 25 million tourists during the past 25 years. His Excellency has dubbed the company’s silver anniversary year as ‘Orient Tours – Celebrating the Sands of Time’. Industry veteran, Inger Rasmussen, responsible for 24 years of Orient Tours’ growth' added : “I can confirm that it is the consistency of people that has played a key role in managing customer satisfaction and loyalty – and thus leads us to constantly achieve amazing results. I am very proud of our dynamic and dedicated team.” “It is the teams’ ongoing commitment to the company that means they deliver excellence in customer service that, in turn, promotes a positive spirit of working well, together. They are the secret to our success”. Rasmussen said that the team at Orient Tours are supported by a bespoke, turnkey IT system that ensures seamless, accurate, quality reservations experience as a result of fast dialogue with Orient Tours’ international partners in key feeder markets across Eastern and Western Europe, and other parts. She also said that Orient Tours has introduced a series of industry-shaping tour programmes including tailor-made, alternative destination packages, overland tours between Dubai and Muscat, sea-safaris and ground-breaking, individual fly & drive programmes. Shaikh Faisal concluded by saying that it is the industry’s responsibility to ensure the sustainability of the destination as a desirable product. He confirmed that this has encouraged his team to drive growth through constant product innovation.