Creole Travel’s GM interviewed by prestigious Forbes magazine |15 May 2014
Jaroslav Mašek, a Czech reporter from the prestigious Forbes magazine, was in Seychelles recently primarily to cover the Carnaval International de Victoria.
However during a conference held for the international press on board the inter-island fast ferry Cat Cocos, Mr Mašek met Guillaume Albert, general manager (GM) of Creole Travel Services, and decided to set up an interview with him.
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Although Mr Albert has now reached the position of general manager, during the interview Mr Mašek quickly realised that Mr Albert was not parachuted to the position he is in today. Instead he started humbly working on the switch board, passing through some 8 - 9 other positions before becoming the general manager of Creole Travel Services.
Besides Creole Travel Services, the Albert family own and are affiliated with many other companies such as Le Domaine de L’orangeraie, Le Domaine de la Reserve, Oplezir, United Yacht Charter, Cap Lazare, Cat Cocos and so on.
In general the turnover of all the companies is about 1 billion rupees, with Creole Travel Services generating half of this sum all by itself. Mr Albert added that this does not include the revenue they get as commission agents.
The money made by their companies is kept in Seychelles and not placed in banks abroad and no large investments are made outside of the country. This is an important aspect for this patriotic family since they are very actively involved in the Seychelles economy and want Seychellois to benefit to the maximum. They are the biggest private tax payers in country.
“We barely keep any money in the bank. It is always being reinvested to keep the economy strong,” Mr Albert said.
He explained that the family does not like to splurge on things they don’t need, instead it is reused for the benefit of the country.
Mr Albert was very proud to say that Creole Travel Services last year won two Kuoni recognition awards of the year. Kuoni tour operator awarded them with an outstanding agent award and outstanding performance and client satisfaction with 96% customer satisfaction. The marks collected by Creole Travel Services allowed the company to maintain its position among the top five best destination management companies in the world doing business with Kuoni.
Mr Mašek said that during his ten years’ experience one of the most interesting people he has ever met is “Tykac”, a man who made his fortune in the coal mines, and came back into the spotlight after 10 years of shying away from the media after being accused of committing illegal acts.