Big Cat Cruises With Indian Tourists

Leading Cairns-based tour operator, Big Cat Green Island Reef Cruises, recently utilised Cross-cultural Customer Service experts, TravConsult, to educate its Team in a Workshop on the cultural differences, consumer behaviour, service needs and expectations of Indian tourists.

With recent incidents in Melbourne and on the Gold Coast involving Indian students gaining negative media exposure in India, Big Cat wants to show Australia’s true welcome colours to Indian visitors.

Sharon Livingston, Director of Sales and Marketing for Big Cat says, “Indian visitors to Tropical North Queensland are an emerging and important market for our region and it is important for all operators to send a clear message of “welcome” to these tourists.”

Livingston continues saying, “There is no better time than right now to ensure that our Big Cat team is fully educated and prepared to not only welcome our Indian visitors, but to really “wow” them and give them a memorable experience of a lifetime out on the Reef and in our region.”

Trevor Lee, Managing Director of TravConsult, says, “Indians are fun-loving people, very warm and happy. They now have many destinations around the world to choose from when it comes to planning a holiday with friends and family. When they arrive in Cairns, their biggest decision, choosing a destination, has already been made. It is then up to tourism operators to up the ante and really look after them. And Big Cat is very focussed on providing a huge welcome and a fun experience for their Indian customers.”

Livingston says, “In the TravConsult Workshop, our Team Members acquired a lot of useful knowledge and understanding about the behaviour of Indian consumers which has definitely given them more confidence to interact with these tourists. Saying hello in Hindi, smiling and knowing some enjoyable and suitable topics of conversation can win the hearts of an Indian family who will return to India with nothing but a positive impression of Cairns and Australia and of course Big Cat.”

Lee says, “Indian tourists are very different to Japanese tourists. Most speak English, they are not afraid to approach and interact with Australians and they ask lots of questions. And they also like to bargain and this is a skill that many Australians are not comfortable with. In our Workshop, we give them insight and strategies with bargaining.”

The TravConsult Indian Customer Service Workshop was a huge success with staff coming out motivated and inspired as they now understood so much more of the reason behind some of the cultural differences and behaviours of their Indian visitors.

Steve Davies, Big Cat’s Director of Operation says, “My team was hugely motivated and inspired after the TravConsult Workshop – as a team, we now have a new and better appreciation of our Indian visitors and their culture and we can’t wait to interact with them at a more meaningful level. From a business point of view, this will translate into improved customer service delivery, more sales and increased positive word-of-mouth recommendations for Big Cat.”