Alshamel Travel, our Best Travel Management Company, Middle East, 2013, is the fastest-growing travel management company (TMC) in the Middle East. It already has a renowned reputation for providing reliable, premium services in corporate, leisure, military and government travel. It is the only TMC with fully owned offices across the Gulf Corporation Countries (GCC) and Jordan. With more than 300 professionals from 21 different countries, Alshamel services a diverse client portfolio including Fortune 500 companies, local and international governments, and military organisations.
Alshamel is a regional partner of Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), the world’s leading corporate TMC, and CWTSatoTravel, the world’s largest travel services provider to the US military and government. Together they offer a combined network reaching an impressive 150 countries.
Regional growth
Following the launch of Alshamel Travel in Kuwait in 1996, it was not long before the first office in Dubai, UAE opened in 2002. Within a few years, expansion had extended to Qatar and Bahrain in 2004, closely followed by Jordan in 2005 and Abu Dhabi, UAE in 2006. The newest branches were opened in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and Oman in 2010.
Each of these outlets has been approved by the International Air Transport Association to make passenger sales, and therefore is able to make reservations and issue tickets instantly on all airlines including low-cost carriers. This ensures speed and timely delivery of travel documents. The outlets act as one-stop travel shops offering a range of travel products and services.
While Alshamel benefits from the expertise, support and cooperation of its esteemed international partners, its main focus is on the GCC and countries of the Middle East. Functioning as one entity through a network of regional offices, Alshamel excels at servicing clients and partners on a truly regional level. It provides exceptional results thanks to extensive local knowledge, highly experienced agents, dedicated programme managers and access to cutting-edge technology. Alshamel continues to pursue a methodical, organic growth strategy through affiliation, network expansion, diversification and optimisation.
Alshamel Travel’s annual sales in 2012 exceeded $480m, making it the largest travel services provider in the whole of Kuwait and the fourth-largest TMC in the entire region, according to Arab Travel News magazine’s 2011 Power List.
True teamwork
In a changing world, Alshamel Travel has not forgotten the values that have made it one of the most successful travel names in the Middle East. The company’s main asset is its people; they are highly trained and motivated and really care about customer needs.
Alshamel provides and sustains an infrastructure that effectively recruits, selects, develops and retains the very best employees. It fosters a true teamwork philosophy that is inspired through effective organisational skills, proactive efforts, and maintaining a balanced life between professionalism and having fun.
It is without doubt that the company’s business model is unique in the region, especially as it has built a number of business units organically, which comprise of Alshamel Military and Government (M&G), Alshamel Local (Corporate and Leisure) and Alshamel/CWT Corporate Travel. In 2013 Alshamel will be adding additional business units: Alshamel Leisure, Alshamel Retail, Alshamel Luxury (currently only in Kuwait) and Alshamel Online.
Unique feats
Regionally, Alshamel is the only TMC with nine fully owned offices across the GCC and Jordan. It operates as a full-service TMC offering corporate travel management services to an incredibly diverse client portfolio, including Fortune 500 companies, and government and military organisations. Internationally, its global partnership with CWT, the world’s leading travel management experts, ensure a combined network reach of over 150 countries.
Documents in the digital archive have been accessed an average of 20 times each without killing a single tree
In terms of technology, Alshamel has been relentlessly adopting the latest innovations to improve data analytical capabilities, attain better control over the supply chain and enhance the quality of services provided to corporate clients. In addition to this, deploying CWT’s hi-tech systems and products allows Alshamel to offer world-class levels of corporate travel services coupled with maximum efficiency and consistency in service delivery.
Securing sustainability
Alshamel is the only TMC in the region to have pioneered a sustainability initiative; it is called the ‘Alshamel Green Initiative’. The programme comprises three sustainable, secure, online applications: travel tracker, digital archive and customer portal. The travel tracker is a user-friendly, database-driven application. It’s a two-sided, extremely efficient tool that links client and travel agent in a fully automated environment, which not only reduces the use of emails and voice calls, but also eliminates the exchange of hard copy supporting documents.
The digital archive is an application developed to eliminate the internal paper exchange between offices, divisions and departments. These are both generated and archived in digital format. The archive today is home to over 500,000 documents with a combined size of over 20TB. Documents in the digital archive have been accessed an average of 20 times each by the various parties without killing a single tree.
Finally, the customer portal is an application containing uploaded client-related documents, which can only be accessed by the client’s designated personnel: these are uploaded within 24 hours from the time they are issued. In a typical month, an average of 35,000 invoices and 20-30 reports are generated for each of the company’s clients. Today the company has the capability to share these invoices and reports digitally with its client base, without exchanging a single paper document.
Ever since the launch of the ‘Alshamel Green Initiative’, we have been educating local and regional clients on the importance of creating a paperless environment and reducing CO2 emissions. Similarly, Alshamel M&G has been, since inception, engaged in environment preservation and protection, and is constantly after sustainable initiatives. Adhering to a green policy, such as conforming to a paperless work environment policy, shredding and recycling of unwanted paper is one of the sustainable initiatives adopted by Alshamel M&G.
