A brief history of GTL owned of UTO in USA,
I’m Bob, the founder, Chairman of the Board and largest shareholder of DIS Corporation, a vertical software company serving the agg and construction equipment industry. I met Luong on a trip to northern Vietnam in 2005 I believe. He was my guide for a week and we became friends. He expressed his interest in starting his own tour company. Over the next couple of years I came to Hanoi a few times to help prepare marketing material for the North American market, basically proof read English versions.
In 2009 I formed GLT as a single member limited liability company in November of 2009.
The company was registered with all the appropriate taxing authorities and the registrations are current. It was also licensed as a tourist agency in Washington. The legal address for the company is 1315 Cornwall Ave, Bellingham, WA 98225, a commercial building in downtown Bellingham owned by Five Star Development, LLP of which I am the managing partner.
I tried to promote US tours for rich Chinese at one point to give the company some revenue besides the pass through of credit card payments for tours sold by Luong’s Hanoi company. But I didn’t know enough about the travel business to get very far, a friend of mine and I had tours designed, hotels lined up, and promoters in Beijing in place. It was the marketing side where we failed and the fact that we couldn’t focus on the project exclusively because of our other businesses.
In December 2015 I decided to sell Luong the US company since I am getting older and didn’t want his interests to get tangled up in probate.
I believe the company has great potential in attracting the growing wealthy class of Southeast Asia and China to the US for tours.
On arriving in the Seattle, WA on January 10, 2018, Luong proceeded to the current US company location in Bellingham, WA. After spending a few days in the area it was obvious that continuing to locate the company there was counter to his purpose, to grow the company’s US operations. No easy access to air travel existed and being in the corner of the country everywhere he would go would be a long flight. The company that occupied most of the space in the building GLT was leasing had been sold and the new owners wanted GLT’s space as well. He decided to move the company to Houston, TX where there was a significant Vietnamese population. They would be the company’s initial target market as they would be predisposed to travel to Vietnam. And being more centrally located with easy access to domestic and international travel, costs of operation should be lower. Then he settled UTO Branch which belong to GLT to sell US Tours to Asian people. Up to now company has growed and had 5 people.
- Robert Hudson Brim (MBA) still help with accountant, payroll without getting paid.
- Van Luong, Nguyen Managing Director (BA) managed all works at the office to target company go in the right way like train staffs, create marketing campaign for staff to follow, give direction and guide of how to do the job for all staffs.
- Thi Tuyet, Pham (BA) she worked mainly at marketing part to promote for Vietnam, work mostly at night time to contact with sales team in Vietnam.
- Yen Vo (BA) Sales departments, Contact hotels, restaurants, guides, buses services to find the best rate and collect contracts. Sending out email to present USA travel products to Travel Agents in Vietnam and China. Design itinerary and calculate the tour. Dealing with customer enquiries and aiming to meet their expectations; and programming, storing information related to customer.
- Zhang Liu (MBA) works as same job like Yen Vo.