Firstly there was NEI UK Ltd. (www.neiuk.co.uk) an outbound tour company based in the UK, set up in 1993, with India as their prime destination. It was never the intention to seek high numbers of travellers but by utilising the owners own knowledge of India and their travel experiences, a truly personalised service would be offered to the discerning travellers who had a real interest in visiting India. NEI UK were able to offer their superb luxury ‘tailor-made’ holidays by carefully choosing their partners in India, a fundamental aspect of any successful holiday itinerary.
With nearly 30 years of experience in arranging holidays, it seemed logical to be able to offer the same quality holidays to the home country of the owners of NEI UK. This was especially so as, in more recent years, it had become apparent that Wales was mostly an unknown destination to many in India. It is also the case that the affluent and travelling Indian middle class, find it hard to locate an Indian tour operator who would be able to offer a fully personalised service to them. Thus Fly2Wales Holidays came into being as an inbound tour company specialising in holidays to Wales. A launch was intended for April 2020 and that would have been the case but for the arrival of Covid19 and the halt to international travel.
Not daunted by the dire situation in which many tourism related companies regretably find themselves, the owners of Fly2Wales Holidays set to and assessed their position and what steps to take to ensure that the company could survive and prosper, once international travel will again be possible.
The first step was to review the company name and Wales Beckons (www.walesbeckons.co.uk) became the trading name of Fly2Wales Holidays.
The second and very important development, was to appoint an Indian Director to the company to assist in marketing Wales in India. In this regard the owners were very lucky to have the well respected and eminently suitable Mr Prateek Hira of Lucknow, accept their invitation to become a Director of Fly2Wales Holidays. Prateek Hira’s experience in tourism in India placed him in a position to be able to make a change of direction from his successful India inbound tour company – Tornos (www.tornos.com) set up 27 years ago in Lucknow – to also become involved with outbound tourism from India. An active and well respected lecturer on tourism related topics, Prateek Hira will be a welcome addition to the Wales Beckons team.
Prateek Hira is also well known and respected in the realms of academia in India and his knowledge and foresight in this area will be drawn upon to assist Wales Beckons/NEI UK which already works with agents for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, develop its involvement in recruiting students in India who are interested in studying in Wales.
One major and exciting development is that the first Ayurvedic Wellness Centre and Spa will be opening in Wales within the foreseeable future. This has been achieved by Wales Beckons teaming up with the well respected Town and Country Collective (www.townandcountrycollective.co.uk) and also with the Indian Somatheeram Group (www.somatheeram.in ) whose knowledge of Ayurveda is well respected and acknowledged in India, the home of Ayurveda. This has only been possible as a result of dedicated efforts by the business owners and their deep knowledge of India accrued over the years, and their keen eye for what will bring benefits to those who wish to experience a 5,000 year old Indian holistic medicinal discipline.
These developments will take both companies into a new era of travel and one where wellbeing and wellness is always to the fore. Travel will become more than just sight-seeing in a new country, it will be a holistic experience which benefits not only the takers of the holiday but also the lives of those being affected by the traveller.
New relationships will be forged and old ones maintained for the continuance of the high reputation enjoyed by NEI UK. Tourism and business are synonymous and both NEI UK and Wales Beckons expect to play a part in encouraging and developing, worthwhile relationships in the worlds of business and tourism.