St. Augustine, the famous philosopher, theologian, and bishop from the earliest era (354-430 AD) once said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”. More than 1800 years have passed, and today ‘travel’ is an industry which promises to flourish almost till the end of time. And during St. Augustine’s times, the modes of travel were so different that they appear as an apparition in today’s age. Mr. Gupta, today is the director of Mountain Trail Holidays with resorts in Nainital, Corbett National Park, Mukteshwar, and many more exotic locales in the Himalayan ranges of North. It began in 2009, and with Mr. Gupta’s acumen, is all poised to trek the peaks of success incessantly. A suave communicator and an adept entrepreneur, Mr. Gupta is responsible for all the business angles at Mountain Trail Holidays and is a specialist in areas such as leisure, adventure, wellness, and wildlife, providing people with off beat holidays and vacations in lodges and resorts with an eco-friendly experience amidst the most serene and scenic places. He has developed theme based holiday package tours with trekking, nature camping at altitudes ranging from 4000 to 8000 metres above sea level. Mr. Gupta also aims at improving rural tourism in Uttarakhand. With a personality that exudes confidence and self belief coupled with acrystalline thought process, it is certain that he will continue to grow on and Mountain Trail Holidays would very soon become a household name for vacation seekers across India. Following are the excerpts from our Q&A with him.
Q. Please tell us about your career journey starting from school to Mountain Trail.
A. I was quite an average student at school and was never burdened with ambitions like the other students. It’s after getting into IIPM that my thought processes started to align a bit, still not adequately though. IIPM was a big learning platform all thanks to Arindam Sir who made sure we got on the right track by exposing us to myriad competitions, enhancing our communication skills and always trying to motivate and support us. I was always very active with co-curriculars throughout school and college. One of the main reasons why I always desired to get into some creative profession which later I realized was not my true calling. I joined my father’s business immediately after IIPM where I was involved in manufacturing and trading of Industrial equipment. It was not something that I was really looking forward to and to top it, the business scenario in the sector was changing rapidly for the worse as imports had started taking over. Luckily we had recently diversified into travel and hospitality which was a new baby and definitely got my attention and gave me the courage to discuss with all the other directors about me taking over this part of the business. It was badly timed as it was pre-mature and nothing concrete had shaped for our travel business including our little resort which was struggling to survive on financial support from our industrial setup, leave alone breaking even. Nevertheless I got on to the wild horse (our travel firm) and started enjoying whatever it did and never bothered about it winning the race (the profits it was supposed to make). I kept enjoying it till one day, beginning of 2002, the board realized that the Industrial Equipment setup had lived its’ life and we needed to explore other avenues of revenue generation. All eyes started gazing at the travel business (that was me) which, as I mentioned, was in a frivolous mode. My whole focus had to change and since then till date the brand’s only looked up in the domestic as well as the international sector and grew manifolds and big enough to let go off the Industrial Sales Revenues. This year (2012) we are opening another company called TravelEscapades which is a further expansion into tour operations post strategic tie-ups with global outfitters, handling adventure travel.
Q. In a highly competitive sector, how does Mountain Trail maintain a competitive advantage and service differentiation?
A. Thanks to a right thought process and initial research which allowed us to strategize a bit differently from the regular market trends. Mountain Trail has always been a brand associated with niche / elite products and services. Travellers identify Mountain Trail as providers of off-beat & unique holidaying themes. Years of work and relationships has allowed a deep rooted standing for the company and the process has no short cuts to it. The USP for us is rather simple. 10 years ago we started on the tracks where not many were racing and today we have come too far now to fear competition. Small in size but secure…Happy Capitalism!
Q. What do you do at Mountain Trail?
A. I am now at the helm of affairs and am responsible for all aspects connected with the company’s existence and growth.
Q. How has the Indian hospitality industry grown and evolved post liberalisation?
A. Well I can’t really stretch my thoughts as far as independence but I can tell you that there have been rather significant paradigm changes in the industry since 1990, especially 2000 onwards both from the providers and the end users. Markets have grown, become competitive, scaled up in terms of quality and quantity and opened up to the globe both inbound and outbound. Most importantly, apart from the increase in numbers, the markets have matured and that is what is worth pondering upon. The service providers have improved the spectrum of services, offering a wider and better range, going beyond just stay and food, creating and selling EXPERIENCES and that’s what its’ all about now. Thanks to the healthy spending capacities of our metros, people are ready to spend on new and unique experiences and the providers, encouraged by the change in attitude and demands, are ready to invest. Tourism has the potential to enrich the whole nation’s economy and there are successful case studies all over the globe to learn from.
“I CAN WRITE A BOOK ON WHAT THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO TO PROMOTE TOURISM”
Q. What are your future plans for Mountain Trail?
A. I intend to set up nuclear ventures that handle different sectors which will initiate from under the Mountain Trail umbrella for the time being but then will create independent standing of them. Travel- Escapades (our new company) is the first ball to roll.
Q. Do you have plans to expand your resorts?
A. We are too involved in tour operation expansions as of now and have not considered investing our resources towards property.
Q. As a second generation entrepreneur, what is your style of leadership? Any business leaders that you admire or follow.
A. I would go by the book here. Learn by experience and Lead by example and you will never have to demand respect and attention. It’ll be yours by default. I regret not having given Arindam Sir a 100% attention that he so deserved back in the IIPM days. I have not been a part of his growth and so wouldn’t know how he did it all but if given a chance would love to copy him. I now am a die-hard fan of his value systems and philosophies.
Q. How can the Indian government help Indian Tourism and its relative development in the years to come?
A. I can write a book on what the government should do to promote tourism. In a few words, invest in better infrastructure, which is inadequate or absent in some places, better roads, mass commuting systems, power, cleaner and hygienic micro tourist environments and facilities etc. The core essentials for facilitating tourism are missing in adequacy at most places. Then there is support for Hoteliers & Service Providers in terms of taxation policies, tax relief etc. They can at least make the taxation process simple by introducing a central tax, rather than having small pockets which are a deterrent for existing players and investors. Apart from encouraging fresh investors, subsidies and support can be offered to existing players to enhance their operations. The government should also invest in empowering the tourism department with better personnel who can represent the country internationally. On the whole, the government should realize the potential of tourism. They have only recently given the tourism sector an industry status and there are lots to be done.
Q. Getting back to your IIPM days, what were your most enjoyable learning experiences?
A. The best part of our days at the institute was undoubtedly the competitions we got to participate in. Thanks to Arindam Sir again!!
Q. How do you maintain a balance between your work and family life?
A. Just keep my eyes on the watch and make sure my work timings never eat up into my family timings. If it were left to me, I would designate a budget (as an expense) into the product costing of my company. This would include a component factored “in lieu of the reduction in work hours consequential to the mandatory time spent with the family”
Cult hopes that Mr. Gupta keeps on unravelling the success stones of his life and his dreams like opening a Mountain Trail resort in Goa come true with artistic visions. When that happens, his book of life will have no pages unturned. And for such an enterprising person like him, up next would be – “Turn The Page”.
