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| Gregory H. Kurdian, the president of Sunbound |
Gregory H. Kurdian anticipated an early and laid-back retirement in the mid-1980s when he sold his 15-year-old firm, The Incentive Company, on what he said were “very favorable” terms. He was about 40 years old. He stayed on to help the new owner. The firm served an increasingly popular trend in corporate America – arranging corporate trips to reward and motivate high-performing employees
Kurdian, now 64, left after six months, realizing he was not a great match to run his former company. Later, in Florida, he said he quickly grew bored “sitting around with very little to do.”
What emerged from that boredom was Ft. Lauderdale-based Sunbound. Serving the non-vacation travel niche since 1984, Sunbound is a trendsetting firm that produces Hollywood-style special effects and presentations at theme-oriented conventions, meetings, and trade shows, which have wowed audiences over the years. It has had general management roles in major events such as the Super Bowl and Florida Breeder’s Cups; it was the only private company hired for either event at the time.
Today, Sunbound is the largest firm of its kind offering non-vacation travel between Florida and The Bahamas – a special destination niche for the company. In addition to arranging stage shows, large conferences and “incentive” events – the firm provides ground transportation and “meet-and-greet” services.
Kurdian says The Bahamas – both Nassau and Grand Bahama – are ideal for non-vacation events. They have the “allure of a foreign country” – yet offer the levels of safety, infrastructure, and convenience found in popular U.S. convention destinations.
“The advantage of going to The Bahamas is fairly obvious to all of us, and the costs are not that much more than for going to Chicago, San Francisco, or Las Vegas,” he said. A trade show in The Bahamas would cost “$80 to $100 more” per person than a comparable event in Chicago, he noted.
In The Bahamas, Sunbound arranges destination events for the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island – one of the Caribbean’s top destinations. In addition, in Grand Bahama, Sunbound works with the Westin and Sheraton Our Lucaya Resorts in Freeport. They have “some of the finest meeting space in the Caribbean, particularly for trade shows,” Kurdian said.
The former state-owned properties are seeing significant increases in non-vacation visitors, noted Jon Markoulis, CEO of owner Hutchison Development (Bahamas) Limited.
“Our meeting and convention traffic is up 30 percent from last year,” he said. The property’s parent company, Hong-Kong based Hutchison Whampoa Limited, operates and is a joint-venture partner in the Freeport harbor and container port.
The increase in non-vacation travel may be due to a tax deduction available to U.S. companies since January 2006, for non-vacation travel to The Bahamas, Markoulis noted.
Among other attractions for non-vacation travel to The Bahamas, Kurdian notes its main islands are on Florida’s doorstep and that U.S. currency is accepted everywhere in the archipelago. Homeland Security offers pre-clearance in The Bahamas, simplifying return trips to the U.S. In addition, Internet connections and other modern communications are available in resort areas.
“We set up cyber cafes at convention sites,” Kurdian said.
For the Atlantis resort, “Sunbound is a preferred supplier,” noted Jamie Bruce, senior vice president of sales for Kerzner International of Ft. Lauderdale.
The Bahamas also is seeing increasing amounts of non-vacation travel, he noted, following the allowance of tax deductions for non-vacation travel.
Incentive travel does not normally qualify for tax deductions. However, Bruce said a “huge” selling point for non-vacation travel of all kinds is the recent availability of BlackBerry service in The Bahamas. In the past, the absence of top quality telecommunications service had been “a major negative” for potential convention visitors, he added.
“This makes it more viable than ever,” said Kurdian, referring to non-vacation events.
According to Kurdian, Sunbound will handle 240 groups during the 2006/07 fiscal year generating $50 million of revenues. “We don’t do hotels and airline tickets; this is for industrial theater and productions, business events, and major concerns,” he said.
On another front, Sunbound has been in the forefront of developing an employee-friendly corporate culture, resulting in high-performing employees and little turnover in staff, Kurdian noted.
Sunbound has 22 full-time employees in Ft. Lauderdale along with a number of part-time employees, Kurdian noted. In some cases, employees make 75 to 80 percent of their highly competitive salaries from bonuses – based on a formula that divides the company’s annual revenues. In The Bahamas, Sunbound offers hands-on services through a local company in which it has a stake, Sunbound – Bahamas. It has about 18 full-time and a number of part-time employees. The firm is the trade name of a local firm in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Global Fulfillment Services.
Kurdian said he is making arrangements for the firm to keep operating once he’s no longer around to manage it. “I won’t be around forever,” he said, adding: “I have great employees, and I have a commitment to them.” |
