Envoyage has come a long way in a relatively short time – and there are no signs it’ll be slowing down anytime soon. Karryon’s Mark Harada exclusively reports from Worldwide 2025 in South Africa.
At the Envoyage Worldwide 2025 conference in South Africa, Flight Centre Travel Group Global CEO Luxury and Independent Brands Danielle Galloway tracked the FCTG independent network’s progress from 2018 to the present day, a journey that has seen Envoyage grow from “about $30 million” to a multi-billion dollar operation.
“It is a very incredible, powerful growth story,” she told guests at the conference, who numbered in excess of 400, itself a big leap from the 300 delegates at the first Envoyage Worldwide event in Santiago in May 2024.
“Our network now represents well beyond $2 billion and 3,500 members across our five markets.”
To be precise, the group hit $2.3 billion in total transaction value (TTV) in the last financial year (FY25), but more importantly, its membership base grew by 17 per cent globally to around 3,500 members. This is considerably higher than the industry average growth rate of 2-3 per cent, according to Galloway.
Unified and amplified
Impressively, this rise also came just after the group rebranded from FCTG Independent to Envoyage in early 2024.
Australia, where Envoyage enjoys its largest base of around 1,800 advisors, also saw double-digit growth (10%) during FY25.
Envoyage General Manager Australia Nick Queale said the new identity, which brought the group’s five regions – Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and South Africa – under the same banner, has clearly worked.
In an interview with Karryon at Worldwide, held over the weekend in Sun City, he said the branding had been well received by supplier partners and agencies alike.
“We had eight brands globally, and we had to bring that together under one banner and give us gravitas with our partners and [for] the network, to allow them to build further trust with the end customer,” he stated.
Envoyage Global General Manager Astrid Richardson said global branding had created many opportunities, for example, “in terms of unique product range that only comes to Envoyage.”
“Of course, changing brands is challenging. Sometimes, people have been with the brand for a really long time, but we did so much market research into the brand itself to make sure it reflected the network of today,” she told Karryon at Worldwide.
Shopfront shift?
This year, the group even saw the launch of its first Envoyage-branded shopfronts, with two openings in Western Australia and three in Sydney.
“For someone to want to invest in our brand and have a shopfront with our brand as an independent contractor gives me comfort that we’re doing something right with the brand,” Queale said.
“But as we go forward, it’ll be the right agencies at the right time. So I’m not looking to go on a Flight Centre trajectory.”
Richardson added that the branded shopfront model for the business “is not a major part” of the Envoyage growth strategy.
“It was in response to those agencies looking for a new home, and a new home with a bit more flexibility than the franchise offering that exists in the Australian market. So that’s been received incredibly well by [those] agencies… that ability to have a bit more control than a franchise offering gives,” she remarked.
“So it was really in response to that rather than a ‘let’s go out and grow shop fronts’. It was certainly not part of our intentional strategy.”
Bigger pool
Whether it’s a shop front or a home-based business, one thing is certain, according to Galloway: “the independent revolution is here.”
“There is a definite shift from agents choosing independence, keeping the 70 to 90 per cent commission versus the employee model,” she stated.
“The reality is there is this shift that’s happening – 68% of new agents are starting as independent, and technology has made it incredibly easy to set up as an independent.”
It also gives agency groups like Envoyage more fresh talent with which to scale.
Along with a wealth of new, independent agents, Galloway says Envoyage could welcome a sixth market to its fold “very soon”.
Richardson believes it represents a significant opportunity for the group.
“We’re looking at the UK market. Obviously, there’s a good opportunity there in terms of the independent space,” she said.
Beyond Every Journey
Nearly 250 travel advisor members, including some 92 Australian agents, joined over 100 industry suppliers and partners, plus 45 Envoyage global and regional leaders for Worldwide 2025.
The event’s theme, ‘Beyond Every Journey’, focuses on innovation, transformation and building businesses that are ready for the future. Stay tuned to Karryon as we unpack that.
Karryon is on location in Sun City, bringing you an Aussie-exclusive inside look at the sessions and stories from Envoyage Worldwide 2025.
Read more about the event in our full Worldwide 2025 preview here.
The writer is a guest of Envoyage. For more information on the group, click here.
