Q & A with Giovanni Simoncini, President of Grupo Gira, and his manager Teresa Segura

Grupo Gira is currently working on a concept of customized tourism that meets the needs of its clientele and moves travelers to a number of destinations across Cuba, chiefly those spots where the island nation’s nature and history are at their best. In this exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital, both execs bear this out.

What are the characteristics that single out Grupo Gira?

Giovanni Simoncini: Gira is a project designed to give tourists from anywhere under the sun a different image of Cuba and its travel offers. We want them to know the country’s nature, a more ecological, cultural and historic tourism. We want them to know there’re lots of allures other than the fancy hotels; we want to let them know that this country has a history and traditions of its own.

We’re not interested in reeling in millions of tourists. What we do care for is to give tourists the chance to know Cuba as it is. We’re currently toying with the idea of developing scuba diving tourism in Cuba’s marvelous beaches, that much comprised in a travel package that includes knowledge, lodging and customer care.

We intend to go the extra mile every step of the way, especially when it comes to services. We must bear in mind that those tourists who come to Cuba stay on the island for roughly a week and they always try to make the most of that weeklong stay. That’s what Grupo Gira wants to do and is willing to do: to help them make the most of those seven days and work out all of their problems. The tourists we have worked with recently are very pleased and happy with the kind of services that we deliver.

Do you manage to make tourists come back to the island nation time and again?

We have a specialty in customized trips, tailor-made journeys, so we’re always eager to make those tourists and others come to the island. I think we’ve managed to bring that off and that’s owed to the painstaking effort of our staff. The results of our job are clearly observed in the repeating groups and individuals.

When was the agency created? What are its top objectives?

Teresa Segura: The agency saw the light of day in 2002 as a company legally constituted and registered on Cuban soil through the Chamber of Commerce and supported by ECOTUR S.A., a local incoming agency. The initial idea always was to bring Cuba to the foreground as a country with travel destinations other than Havana and Varadero. We wanted to raise the bar in terms of travel and tourism in a bid to put together customized travel packages.

We’re always looking for those tourists who actually want to do something different in the country. At the time when we popped up as a travel agency, there was no such thing as an incoming operator keen on taking holidaymakers to those parts of the country they really wanted to see.

Years have rolled on and I must say that both time and experience have helped us hone our skills in the industry. Right now, we’re not only a top-notch incoming operator and travel agency, but also travel crafters -that’s an expression I love using every once in a while. Each and every tourist comes searching for something different, so Grupo Gira puts out all the stops to find what they’re looking form and please them.

As our President said at the top of this interview, Gira is not a massive tourism company. However, we boast a portfolio of customers we’re very familiar with and who give our company quite a good name. We work with professionals and college people, bankers, CEOs of major leading companies in their fields. At the onset, the groups of travelers we used to work with had only five people tops. Today, those groups are engulfing over 200 individuals, and that’s exactly what we want to do.

Does your group have offices in other countries?

TS: Yes, it does. From an operation standpoint, we have offices in Guatemala and in Mexico’s Guadalajara. That particular office operates as a company under the name of Silver Travel that’s caught on tremendously among potential tourists there. We’ve also opened offices in Madrid and we count on a few sale outlets in South America.

May we then say that Grupo Gira delivers a different kind of tourist offer?

GS: Absolutely. I know today’s travel industry need massive turnouts of travelers in order to make a killing. However, we take a more romantic stance. I consider myself a very romantic entrepreneur, rather than a down-to-earth impresario. We always explain tourists that they can take away from Cuba more than just the keepsakes or the snapshots of the palm trees and the beaches, that they should take back home the memories of all the things, of all the activities they did on the island nation. That’s what actually counts for us.

If you were asked to sum up what the key to your company’s success has been, what’d you say?

GS: The conviction of our ideas. We’re convinced of what we’re doing and we’re going to stand up for that idea for forever more, no matter what consequences will bring or what the future will hold.