São Paulo – A Brazilian travel agency is coming up in the market by specializing in two-way Brazilian and Arab corporate travel. After securing a spot in Japan-Brazil business trips, Líder Corporate Eventos & Lazer is investing in the Arab world. Customer service in Arabic, supplied by staff of Arab origin, and an understanding of each country’s culture, is part of the strategy.
On the market for almost nine years, Líder is owned by Marcos Destro and Paula Satiko, who boast vast travel industry experience, and have worked at agency targeting the Eastern public. according to Destro, 60% of Líder’s corporate clients are in Japanese multinationals. The agency has Japanese-speaking professionals who understand the culture.
About two years ago, Líder became an Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce member company. This year, it drew on its expertise working with the Japanese to work with the Arabs. “We render professional services specializing in the Middle East,” Marcos Destro told ANBA. Pictured above are Destro and commercial supervisor Renata Melchior during a visit to the Arab Chamber.
The agency offers a full range of travel services to executives traveling from Brazil to Arab countries or the other way around, whether it be for maintaining market share, inspecting a supplier’s production or other purposes. Líder will handle everything from issuing tickets to booking hotels, shuttles to and from meetings, professional ride-alongs, translation services and whatever else is required.
“It’s not just about going in and selling; there’s a whole other ritual, it’s a different universe,” says Destro. The agency can provide information such as which hotels are nearest where an executive needs to be, and since it works with lots of customers, its rates are better than the market average, according to him. Destro defines his service as corporate travel agency with an understanding of the Arab world.
Corporate services available from Líder also include group trips to congresses, conventions, sales training, product launches, trade shows, and other off-company activities. Major international corporations like Gama Italy, ASUS, NGK and D-Link are clients.
Líder Corporate is the umbrella company for divisions Líder Eventos, Líder Lazer, GoToBEY, and “EaíVamosPraOnde.com”. Líder Eventos covers corporate travel-related events, and Líder Lazer offers leisure travel to client companies’ employees. “We serve 5,000 professionals,” says Destro. “EaíVamosPraOnde.com” is an online platform for purchasing tickets and other services, in partnership with online agency Decolar.
GoToBEY, whose name references Lebanon’s capital Beirut, was Líder’s first Arab work front. In business for three years, the agency caters to Arab immigrants and descendants, especially Lebanese ones, who travel to the Arab country to visit their families. It will also issue tickets for Arab business owners and retailers who travel from Brazil to China to buy merchandise, and for Arabs visiting family in Brazil.
In GoToBEY as well as Líder Corporate, services rendered in Arabic by Arab staff is a big plus. “Here in Brazil, Arab immigration is huge,” says Destro. GoToBEY has branch offices in Foz do Iguaçu, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre and São Paulo, where it also boasts two home offices and its headquarters. “Next month we’re opening an branch in Ciudad Del Este [Paraguay],” says Destro. There’s Arab staff in every branch, and promotional material and the website are available in Arabic.
This year also saw GoToBEY start offering group leisure travel packages to Lebanon. The first trip happened last June, and two new ones are slated for June and September 2020. The groups get to see tourist spots and then they have a few days to visit family or do things like take cooking lessons or go to malls – the agency helps out with scheduling these activities.
But Destro has bigger plans for GoToBEY, which include offering packages for other Arab countries – including Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia – and creating purpose-driven routes. “These days people won’t travel much without a purpose,” he says. This includes taking Brazilian tourists mountain-skiing in Lebanon, which will happen next February. The package includes four nights in Beirut and four nights on a mountain hotel with a ski lift to the track, according to Destro.
Plans also include offering cooking or Arabic lessons to Brazilians in Lebanon, and immersion trips in Egypt’s spiritual magic. The agency offered trips for the Hajj, the great pilgrimage to Mecca last year, and is expecting to do it again in 2020.
Quick facts
Líder Corporate Eventos & Lazer
Phone: +55 (11) 3050-0510
Website
Facebook
Divisions
Líder Lazer
Líder Eventos
EaíVamosPraOnde
GoToBEY
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
