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Shubhra Tandon

Mumbai, Sept. 26 After taking over SOTC in 1996, Kuoni, the Switzerland-based travel company, made its entry into the Indian market.

And now, for the first time, the company has created a division between the offerings of the two brands.

While SOTC will continue to cater to the “mass affluent segment”, Kuoni will be concentrated on luxury travel outside and within India.

The company has spent over Rs 15 crore in this whole new marketing and brand expansion exercise in India.

This move is part of a worldwide drive by the 102-year-old travel company to sharpen its brand equity.

With this, Kuoni’s brochures and product offerings will be similar across the globe.

It will also have similar look and feel to its outlets.

In India, as well, Kuoni will now be seen in new colour, with a changed logo and brand new outlets.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Mr Sunil Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, India & South Asia outbound division, Kuoni Holidays, told Business Line, “Firstly, this segregation will eliminate confusion in the minds of the customers who expect similar offerings in Kuoni outlets across the globe.

“Secondly, in India, we realised that SOTC is looking after the foreign travel needs of people.

“But with the growth of fashion and lifestyle markets, there was an emerging luxury segment whose travel requirements needed to be taken up more seriously. Since our mother brand already caters to premium segment, it was a perfectly valid choice to make.”

As part of the re-branding process, Kuoni’s logo will no longer have the globe symbol and its font has also been changed.

As part of expansion, the new Kuoni will have 16 stores in 12 cities by the end of December 2008.

The locations include Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Noida, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune.

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