INTERVIEWER: MAHMOUD MANSI & ALIA FARAMAWI
EDITOR: NADA ZEYADA
1-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: As a Tours Manager, can you please describe to us your role?
Hala Abdou Saad: As a tour manager, I have to organise and accompany group of holiday travellers on their tours especially for different locations in Egypt and overseas. My responsibility is to ensure that travel arrangements run as smoothly as possible from the beginning to the end. In addition, I have to provide them with practical support throughout the trip.
2-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: Who are your clients? What are the challenges you face with the client?
Hala Abdou Saad: We have different clients; individuals or groups. Groups could be arranged by the company, by individuals and families, or with agreement with owners and managers in different petroleum and industrial companies. The big challenge is to give the customer his/her demands with the cheapest prices. Online deals are also a challenge that I always need to put into consideration.
3-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: There is a relationship of trust between the client and the tourism company. Is there a certain method or approach you follow to establish and empower this relationship of trust?
Hala Abdou Saad: As the client is always right, we try to give him/her a detailed description about the whole trip including photos, locations, hotel descriptions and we follow him/her during the trip to collect feedback or adjust anything if needed. Also the client should find everything arranged in time and dates as previously promised.
4-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: How do you manage a tour from A to Z?
Hala Abdou Saad: Before the tour we must arrange all travel accommodation, transportations, flight, internal tours according to the client’s budget, or an accepted budget. We have tour vendors and we have to make sure of all required documents. Furthermore, we have to make sure of visas permission, if any, during the tour we deal with a daily schedule to insure that no serious issues would come up.
5-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: You have travelled abroad and seen many places. Why do you think tourists visit other countries more than they visit Egypt? What are your suggestions to enhance tourism in Egypt?
Hala Abdou Saad: I believe there are other reasons than safety and security issues responsible for that. From my point of view, the most important reasons are: 1) Shortage of charter airlines trips to Egypt, 2) Miss of social environment for encouraging tourism.
Egypt should have more than one big charter airline from the most promising markets. Also we should facilitate the entrance visa through using online system like Dubai and turkey. In addition, we should increase the places of sightseeing and enhance the internal transportations within Egypt.
7-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: You have a bachelor degree in English Commerce. Which subject was the most influential and why?
Hala Abdou Saad: Marketing and Negotiation Skills are the most influential subjects, because tourism is based in marketing.
8-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: You took training in the HR department in one of the petroleum companies located in Egypt. How did this benefit you now as branch manager?
Hala Abdou Saad: The training was in both HR and marketing department. I benefited from both because they allowed me to know that clients satisfaction is very important, and, also, in dealing with others on a win-win situation.
9-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: How does the sales department in your company function? Do they have a target too? What do they do in low seasons?
Hala Abdou Saad: They have a target and a goal that they try to achieve through direct communications, advertisements and social media. By diversifying the company’s areas of working, you can have a high season in one aspect such as Omra, while it is a low season for summer vacations.
10-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: Do you think it negatively affects the Egyptian economy when a lot of honeymooners spend their honeymoons abroad?
Hala Abdou Saad: Despite the fact that it is good for my company, it badly affects the Egyptian economy. However, Egypt should imitate what other countries, like Thailand, Bali and other honeymoon places, do.
11-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: What are your comments regarding HR in Egypt?
Hala Abdou Saad: HR in Egypt does not focus on the best knowledge and ability of the job. They believe that it is not important what you know; what is important is who you know. Thus, managers should concentrate more on education, abilities, personalities… etc.
12-HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: What were your challenges to enter the tourism market and acquire this position?
Hala Abdou Saad: I always loved this field even when I was still a student. Because it makes me travel a lot, see places, to search for hotels and tours, and to know what countries are the best to combine together. This convinced the CEO of the company that this job is my hobby, and, of course any position has a lot of challenges till you gain the needed experience and trust.
HR Revolution Middle-East Magazine: Thank you so much Ms. Hala for sharing this valuable insights with us and with our readers.
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