Dollar Thrifty plans expansion in region |
|
Share With Members!
Text Size 
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTG), the US-based parent company of the Thrifty and Dollar Rent A Car brands, is expanding operations in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).
The car rental major plans to enter the Saudi market shortly. DTG will launch a pre-paid product for travellers enabling them to use it globally.
The expansion plan follows its latest restructuring exercise that saw 35 per cent of job cuts at senior management level and 15 per cent at mid level, taking the total count to 7,500.
"We are bullish on the region. At present, the Mena region contributes more than seven per cent to our total revenues. We hope to enter the Saudi market soon and for this we are actively considering franchisee model, while the UAE market continues to be strong and bullish," Tom Kelley, Executive Director for global franchise operations at DTG, told Emirates Business.
The company is exploring business potential in emerging markets. "When business is shrinking, profitability is more important. To sustain profitability, we are exploring emerging markets and Dubai is growing much faster than its peers. We find franchising model sustainable and attractive for activities during the present market conditions. We are developing a new pre-paid product, which will enable travellers to use our services at regional rates across several countries," said Kelley.
Dollar's main focus is the airport vehicle rental market, catering to the business and leisure travellers. Dollar has 111 company-owned and franchised in-terminal airport locations in the US. The majority of locations are on or near airports.
Feeling the heat of global economic crisis, the company has implemented major restructuring, particularly at its US headquarters.
"The travel industry became a victim of the ongoing global recession, as the automobile manufacturers collapsed. In October, our organisation has taken up a major restructuring and as part of this, some painful steps were taken to mitigate our issues. We have taken two key initiatives cost-cutting and cash-management measures. Cash is the king and to ensure adequate level of liquidity, we focused on capitalising on our inherited strength and experience," said Kelley.
By Sreenivasa Rao Dasari
© Emirates Business 24/7 2009
x
DISCLAIMER
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Community Comments (0) - 
Comment on this article 
Comment on this article
The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect Zawya. Read our Comment Policy.
Loading ...
Zawya Comment Policy:
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Loading ...Community Buzz
Stories
Companies
Most viewed companies by Community in the last 24 hrs
| Company Name | Country | Industry |
| Consolidated Contractors Company | Overseas | Construction and Design |
| Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Binladin Group | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Electricity Company | Saudi Arabia | Electric Utilities |
| Barwa Real Estate Company | Qatar | Landlords and Developers |
| Roads and Transport Authority - Dubai | UAE | Regulatory and Administrative Bodies |
| Mubadala Development Company | UAE | Investment Firms and Funds |
| Ministry of Health - Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia | Ministries and Municipalities |
| Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company | UAE | Oil |
| Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation | Qatar | Electric Utilities |
Projects
Most viewed projects by Community in the last 24 hrs
| Project Name | Country | Sector |
| ENEC - Nuclear Power Plant | UAE | Power and Water |
| Abu Dhabi DOT - Abu Dhabi Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Abu Dhabi Ports Company - Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone (KPIZ) | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Aramco/Dow Chemical - Ras Tanura Integrated Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| SATORP - Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) - Smelter Complex - Phase 1 | UAE | Industry |
| Dubai Racing Club - Meydan City - Meydan Racecourse | UAE | Real Estate |
| Dubai RTA - Dubai Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| IGD - Gasco - Habshan 5 Gas Processing Plant | UAE | Oil and Gas |
Blogs
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
