"Remember I'm the CEO of the largest integrated travel and tourism company of the country, so I need to be always on the move," he jokes, in a rare moment caught for an interview in his office.
As the head of Sahara Global, the latest travel venture of the Sahara group, Datta has the onus of hardselling a "unique Sahara travel experience" within India and overseas.
But isn't that the promise of every travel brand?
Sahara is not just another cliche masquerading as a brand, according to the 14-year group veteran. This is really unique, he claims, as he breaks into a monologue on the new venture's vision: "We plan to not just revolutionise the concept of travel by coming up with a one-stop solution for travel, stay and sightseeing, but reach out to every Indian who wants to travel - and get him the best deals in his budget. As the only company which has a pan-Indian presence, we already have the network and the immense Sahara resources at hand to achieve this."
In a country where domestic and international travel is growing at a robust 15 per cent a year, the Indian traveller is grossly underserviced, feels Datta. Sahara Global plans to change that.
Currently, Datta has his hands full as he flags off 'Celebration India', a huge brand signage exercise - or Bharat Yatra, as he would call it - beginning in June.
The plan is to have Sahara executives swarm into the market with much fanfare, opening more than 600 offices in 165 cities by the end of 2006.
June will also see the launch of its first Experience Zone in Bangalore, touted as an attempt to familiarise first time travellers with the place they plan to visit. At least 50 of these are planned this year.
"Currently, we have our teams in Andhra and Karnataka, shooting every tourist spot, eating joint and lifestyle store in order to give a first-hand account to prospective travellers," enthuses the CEO.
Another initative involves identifying new holiday spots. Such as Chachai Fall (53 km from Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh), Pithoragarh (in Uttaranchal) and Junagadh (315 km from Ahmedabad).
"We're tying up with various state tourism boards to develop and map interesting tourist spots in their regions," says Datta, adding in the same breath that he's also in touch with the French tourism board to organise wine tours and malt tours in Scotland for students in the hotel business.
Its airline business may be gone, sold to Jet Airways, but Sahara the travel brand isn't about to recede from the market.
