Sudipta Dev – Manama
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Mohammed A Dadabhai
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Dadabhai Group, one of the pioneers in travel and hospitality space in the Kingdom of Bahrain, plans to open a branch of Dadabhai Travel in Mumbai in a few months. Dadabhai Travel was started in 1981 in Manama. “We have offices in Al Khobar and Jubail in Saudi Arabia. We will soon have offices in Jeddah and Riyadh. There are two offices in Dubai and another will be opened in Abu Dhabi soon. The Mumbai branch will be opened within a few months,” said Aziz Gilitwala, managing director, Dadabhai Travel, adding that there is also an associate office in Iraq.
Gilitwala mentioned that the company has a strong corporate client base and because these clients have business interests in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and India they want to deal with a travel agency which has same work ethics and philosophy. “They are all expanding and they want us to be with them. This gives us an in-house client base, which helps us grow where we move,” he added. Gilitwala disclosed his plans for going into B2B business. “India and Saudi Arabia are very huge markets, we want to make ourselves accessible to smaller travel agencies who are remotely located,” he stated.
One of the leading hospitality companies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Elite Hospitality, a part of the Dadabhai Group, has eight properties in Manama. While most of the clientele are Saudi Arabian families, as far as the Indian market is concerned the client base is primarily the corporate segment. “We get many corporate clients from India. There are many Indian institutions here,” said Mohammed A Dadabhai, chairman, Dadabhai Group. Chairman of a diversified set of companies, about 91 years back Dadabhai’s father came from India and settled in Bahrain.
The group properties include Elite Crystal Hotel, Elite Grande Hotel, Elite Resort and Spa Muharraq, Elite Seef Residence & Hotel, Elite Residences, and others. Dadabhai stated, “About 70 per cent of the market share for tourism in Bahrain is for four-star hotels. We have all apartment hotels that have the comfort of more than just a room. This is why many Saudi families stay with us. We create Bahrain as a hub for Saudi Arabia in terms of all the facilities that we provide. About three-four million tourists come to a country of one million every year.” He pointed out that tourism in Bahrain is flourishing because of the causeway – it only takes about 40 minutes by road to reach Saudi Arabia, which is a country of almost 30 million people.
