Magellan Travel‘s future is brighter than ever, says General Manager Andrew Macfarlane, who believes Helloworld Travel’s acquisition has amplified the brand & strengthened the business.
Speaking to KARRYON at Helloworld Travel’s HQ in Melbourne, Andrew Macfarlane indicated that there are no regrets of the sale which took place almost 18 months ago, because the Helloworld Travel Group has more than delivered on the promises of the acquisition.
Through the purchase, Magellan Travel has gained the greater buying power of a large and successful publicly-listed company, as well as access to better technology. Additionally, Macfarlane said the brand has managed to retain its individuality and preserve “what’s unique about Magellan”.
“Helloworld Travel has been very respectful of ensuring Magellan doesn’t disappear or be absorbed into the bigger organisation.”
Andrew Macfarlane, Magellan Travel General Manager
“They’ve allowed us to continue with the same brand and identity, the same leadership and team, and run our own networking and events.”
Having this distinction of brand has allowed Magellan to continue operating as a niche group that the members “know and love” while strengthening its future with the support of a bigger company.
“We’ve got the best of both worlds,” Macfarlane added.
Speaking of members, the General Manager said initial concerns of the acquisition have now disappeared as they now understand that the “Magellan they loved before has not disappeared”.
“A number of members had joined Magellan from the pre-organisation that later became Helloworld Travel, so they had a legacy view of what it might be like,” he explained.
“We understood that we needed to make certain commitments as to what it might be like and that the Magellan would not disappear into the larger company and that there will be added benefits.
“We also understood that this needed to be proven within a period of time, so we’ve worked really hard since to deliver on every one of those promises and commitments.
“Now we can say that the acquisition is what we said it would be and therefore we are in a much stronger place in terms of people being able to see for themselves that what we said ‘Magellan would have a brighter future more than ever as part of Helloworld Travel’ is the case.”
Keep an eye on KARRYON for more of our chat with Andrew Macfarlane.