Selami Albayrak, a Turkish native, came to study in Germany in 1979. He has worked since the 1980s in a travel office. He opened his first office in 1989 and is now the proud owner of three travel offices
Albayrak is a seasoned world traveler. He says that he puts his heart and soul into travel. However, he has not taken a holiday for around six years. He opened his first Hamburg-Ottensen travel bureau in 2002 and included a café-bar, calling it a Café-Travel-Bar. He recently shared with us his success story of a business trend that he started in Germany.
ET: How did you come up with the idea of a Café-Travel-Bar?
Albayrak (A): I had a dream. I wanted to bring a new concept to the German market, something that no one had thought of in the past. I finally thought of this novel undertaking on September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks in the United States affected the finances of my travel business badly. I had to save the ship from sinking. The global traveler has become very cautious since that shocking event. Also, terror attacks, natural catastrophes such as the tsunami, and other incidents impacted the travel business negatively.
