Innovations and operational changes have resulted in DTH Travel achieving high double-digit growth rates, with healthy year-on-year revenue since its ownership change and rebranding four years ago.
Rebranded from Diethelm Travel when CEO Stephan Roemer acquired full ownership with partners, DTH Travel has served over 90,000 travellers across 14 Asian countries, breaking the US$100 million mark for the first time.
“We see that our creative approach to what would otherwise be corporate and mass travel arrangements are very much appreciated by our clients and their customers,” Roemer told TTG Asia.
On the impact of the current situation in the Middle East, Roemer said: “We received a few cancellations but this comprised less than ten per cent of our total bookings for the month. Most of our clients requested for an adjustment of dates, either within the same period or later on in the year.
“We are also still actively receiving requests – they may not be the same volume compared to last year – but we cannot say that the bookings have stopped either,”
He remains sanguine about the outlook for Asia. “As people’s eyes have been opened to travel, despite global challenges, the yearning to see and experience something unique remains. We saw this during Covid, where travel stopped when borders closed but resumed with a vengeance when they reopened.
“People may currently be on a wait-and-see status, but we are optimistic that the situation will improve and the volume of customers traveling to Asia will return,” he pointed out.
DTH Travel, whose core business remains B2B, with growing MICE and group segments, now has a customer base of just over 1,200 agents and tour operators worldwide, 720 of which made a booking in at least one destination last year.
Roemer added that the company has 22 local offices in Asia with 388 full-time employees from 19 nationalities. It has a complaint rate of less than 0.05 per cent, with guest satisfaction as the main benchmark rather than customer base or revenue figures.
DTH Travel is known for creating unique travel experiences, including the recent launch of the Blue Jasmine train experience in Thailand.
More than a train ride, Roemer said its goal is “to provide customers access to smaller locations, local communities and experiences that would otherwise be impossible without the train”.
“The train is just the very special vehicle we use for the special experience of excursions and the people travellers meet along the way”.
This focus on developing new offerings also applies to products such as adventure travel in the offbeat destination of Abra in northern Philippines, river safari experiences in Borneo, and a cross-country train journey through Laos, China and Vietnam.
