Hertz, the international car rental company, drove into the Sri Lankan market this week behind expectations of tourism growth. “Hertz will initially be operating from Colombo and will gradually be available island wide. Travellers can drive themselves or have chauffer driven vehicles,” the Hertz Vice President and General Manager, Asia and Japan, Wong Soon Hwa, told the Sunday Times FT at the launch of the Sri Lankan operations this week.
Hertz will operate in Sri Lanka through a license agreement with Andrews the Car Rental Company. Hertz has also tied-up with international travel company, Discover the World Marketing, to facilitate international car rental reservations. Hertz has also gone into partnership with national carrier SriLankan Airlines.
Andrews the Car Rental Company is part of Andrews Travels, one of the oldest tour operators in Sri Lanka. Under the agreement with Hertz, Andrews will have the right of using the Hertz brand in Sri Lanka.
Through the agreement with SriLankan Airlines, Hertz is the official car rental company for the airlines frequent flyer programme, FlySmiles. Through FlySmiles, Hertz will be able to offer its services to regular travellers, such as corporate executives, that travel with SriLankan and also other SriLankan Airlines partners.
“FlySmiles already has about 100,000 registered members and 10% are from premium categories. FlySmiles members can earn miles and burn these miles in the form of discounts, free tickets and upgrades from SriLankan Airlines and our partners. So they can burn miles even with our partner airlines, like Etihad and Malaysian Airlines, and other partners like Hertz,” said the Manager Marketing, Sri Lankan Airlines, Desiree Premachandra.
A fleet of new Nissan vehicles have already been put into service and Hertz says it is the only car rental company in Sri Lanka using new vehicles. The company will also provide information on sightseeing opportunities and local-area attractions for people hiring Hertz. Hertz says its chauffeurs are professional trained and English speaking and are licensed by the tourism authorities. Hertz currently operates in 145 countries. |
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