BCD Travel has opened a wholly owned service
center in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The BCD Travel Asia-Pacific Service Center
will not only service clients in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore
and across the region, but will also support travelers
from around the world with front-line services during out of
office hours in their regions.
BCD has also become one of the first global TMCs to
join the Sri Lanka Board of Investment, which demonstrates the
company’s contribution to the local economy and job creation.
The company in Sri Lanka is also creating a local Sustainability Committee and will appoint
a local charity to further expand its outreach to the local
communities.
“Coming out of the pandemic, our laser focus was
on ‘building forward’ through a sustainable operating strategy,”
said John Snyder, president and CEO at BCD Travel. “Investing in a
country emerging from political and economic instability not only
supports our strategy for sustainable growth, but also
demonstrates our commitment to care for our communities and feed
the future.”
The service center in Colombo currently
has close to 200 full-time employees and is in active expansion
mode, with the company expecting it to be one of its largest operations
in Asia Pacific by the end of this year.
The service center will be led by a local
management team, with Pradeep Kumar as the executive director.
Kumar, who reports to Greg O’Neil, BCD’s president for Asia
Pacific, Middle East, Africa & Global Network, will oversee talent
recruitment and operational efficiency for the service center.
“Our ongoing global growth strategy relies on
investments that benefit our clients, our employees and our
corporate culture,” said O’Neil. “We’re proud to create
sustainable development opportunities for new talent as we support
our customers’ evolving needs.”
The launch is the latest in a multi-year
series of investments BCD has made to grow its business. Other
significant developments include the expansion of BCD operations
in Brazil, China, Colombia, Dubai, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan,
Panama, Peru and Poland; and acquisitions of event production and
creative media agency L37 Creative (US), Acendas Travel, Adelman
Travel Group and World Travel Services (US), Nordic travel
agency Ticket Biz, global Grass Roots Meetings & Events (UK),
international events agency Zibrant (UK), marketing and
logistics agency Plan 365 (US), GetGoing asset purchase (US),
and Universal Meetings Management Inc. (US).
