Travel branding is itself a much different ball game from say a consumer product brand in lot of ways, says Peter Rothwell, CEO of Kuoni Travel. "A travel brand is different from FMCG brands, it is intangible, as it is difficult to demonstrate physically what a travel brand represents." When people are spending money and travelling long distances with the family, there is a lot of emotional involvement and they want everything to be just right. 

Traditionally brochures or travel-agency staff have been representative elements that often help make decisions in this space. In the modern world, the Internet has taken up that role. New media may not be so important from the transactional point of view, as people still like to have some sort of human interaction as it creates trust and also often leads to improvement of choice said Rothwell in a interview to Amit Bapna of ET.

It is quite nice to have somebody to turn to if you have a problem while traveling, says the CEO. He adds that it is quite a brave person who does just everything on the Internet and then says it'll all be fine, particularly when there is more than one country to be traveled. 

The travel industry has been rapidly evolving, what is true today is not guaranteed to be true tomorrow and things can change a lot and also fast. Which calls for two things: being nimble; and asset-light. Kuoni is both, says Rothwell. "We don't have chartered aircraft and owned hotels; we find it very easy to change fast. If currencies change or fashions move or there are geo-political issues we respond quickly to those situations." 

Having a mother brand Kuoni that stands for a certain personality alongside an array of different brands in different markets, like SOTC in India, can be chaotic. How important is the mother brand in the Kuoni scheme of things? 

"We are clear that the local brands are the ones that take emphasis in their respective markets; and they are also the ones bearing the brunt of facing the customer." He cites the example of Scandinavia, where Kuoni has a brand called Apollo that is well-known for 1-2 week Greek-styled beach holidays. "For us to replace that brand with Kuoni would be suicidal. Kuoni in Scandinavia may not be as well known, and that's ok for us. We don't insist on representing ourselves as Kuoni in whichever markets we go; the elements of the mother brand are always there but they do not take over."

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