Rayna Tours and Travels – An Inspiring Entrepreneurial Journey

We spoke to Manoj Tulsani and Kamlesh Ramchandani, the men behind Rayna Tours and Travels, about their entrepreneurial journey from a young age and how they managed to gain astonishing success in minimal time. So in this article, you’ll get to know what it took Rayna Tours’ founders to grow their venture from a single outlet within a Dubai hotel to one of the UAE’s top Destination Management Companies with branches in different parts of the world.

Early Life – From India to Dubai
After moving to Dubai from the Indian state of Rajasthan in Ajmer at 20, Manoj had a stint working as a marketing executive in Safeer Group of Companies and later as the Head of Marketing Section in Time Machine Group of Companies. Kamlesh, also born and raised in Rajasthan, moved to Dubai at quite an early age. But he had started working even before coming to Dubai and has had always exhibited a dynamic entrepreneurial spirit. So after serving seven to eight years working for other companies in Dubai, both decided to pursue their passion.

Beginning…
Manoj’s love for travel plus meeting new people and Kamlesh’s strong entrepreneurial drive was actually what led to their migration from the trading industry to service industry. So that’s how they launched Rayna Tours and Travels in 2006. The beginning was from a small counter inside Dubai’s Flora Grand Hotel. “We both had grown up in a modest family set up and hence didn’t have the liberty of any insider help or a solid business plan,” recalls Kamlesh about their initial struggles.

So how the young entrepreneurs took it off?
According to Manoj, “We were fortunate enough to start it off at the right time as there was a gap in the market which we were able to identify and fill it.” Yes, when they started, there wasn’t really any trusted company or a service provider organizing direct tours and activities for hotel guests. This really benefited them as they arranged value-packed excursions and packages for interested guests.

Despite all ongoing complicationsand hurdles, the response was unbelievableand this motivated them to start 15 more outlets in less than two years. This further gave them the confidence to go standalone; this saw the opening of their head office in Dubai’s Old Labour Building at Abu Hail in 2009 (which they recently shifted to a bigger, state of the art facility inside ACICIO Business Park Building in Deira, Dubai).

Rayna Tours - Success Stages
Starting its journey as a two-man brand, the success of Rayna Tours has always been to brilliantly channelize its sales efforts as per the changing travel trends and demands of travelers.

As more and more clients began to roll in, this alternatively brought in huge competition.And the major challenge was on how to keep the lights steadily on. In this stage, they built out their infrastructure and strengthened the work team in order to effectively address their ever growing customer base on both B2C and B2B verticals.

From thereon, things snowballed and it didn’t take longer for Rayna Tours to establish itself as the most trusted names for affordable yet exceptional quality travel management services. Its in-house IT department (Technoheaven Consultancy) is one of the best, ensuring quick fix and uninterrupted backing to its tons of tours and service packages available online via web portals and apps.

More than ten years,Rayna Group is now active in diverse business sectors such as construction and transport, apart from travel management. Raasha Real Estate and KNR Transport all come under the extensive service portfolio of the group.

What makes Rayna Tours different from its competitors?
Rayna Tours is a travel brand with a difference!With branches in different parts of the world, it operates on the basis of direct to customer concept which itself makes it unique from other related companies (that mostly rely on third parties to conduct a tour or a holiday package). With heavy and strategic investments made on their own line-up of cruise vessels, dhows and desert camp,among others, Rayna Tours has largely been credited in simplifying the travel process, together with the perks of significant cost savings. They have dedicated sections for worldwide hotel reservations, safaris, excursions, holiday packages and mostly, international visa services to more than 70 destinations. Moreover, it’s also outstanding for its online services wherein its comprehensive and super user-friendly portals as well as convenient apps make it a breeze to personalize a holiday or travel experience within your desired price point.

The net worth of the company is now a staggering AED 1536 million.
Kicking off the venture with an investment of AED ½ million, Rayna Tours,has over the years, attained incredible financial success. After all, it is now an established travel brand with 70 plus outlets (in Dubai alone) and more than 10 locations across the globe (including India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey etc).

It’s an award-winning company too.
In the own words of Manoj, “Right from the beginning, we’ve had always made sure that all our capabilities and resources are aligned in line with our customers’ current and future needs.” And the many prestigious awards and recognitions won by the company bear testament to their exceptional customer service and operational fineness. Majority of accolades that the company has received over time have been based on unbiased public voting system and they include TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, Arabian Travel Awards (for the Best Destination Management Company and the Best B2B Travel Portal), Best Partner Award for Dubai Parks and Resorts, and the Best Performer Award (from Yas Waterworld and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi).

Single most piece of advice for new and budding entrepreuners
According to their own experience, Manoj and Kamlesh strongly believes that success will follow you if you build your business on a real, unique idea and cement it with your passion, positive attitude and never tiring willingness to listen to your customers’ demands and feedbacks (both positive and negative).

Website: https://www.raynatours.com