Australia’s LGBTQIA+ travel association GALTA has elected two members to its board, welcoming The CaPTA Group Director of Marketing & Sales Ben Woodward and Planetdwellers Co-Founder & Managing Director Mario Paez as 2025 directors.
The new members were voted onto the 2025 GALTA Board at the 2024 AGM held in Sydney in December.
Based in Cairns, Woodward is part of the family-owned The CaPTA Group (Cairns and Port Trips and Attractions), while Sydneysider Paez is the Co-Founder of Planetdwellers, which won the 2024 NTIA Award for Most Outstanding Leisure Travel Agency – Single Location.
Woodward was re-elected as GALTA Board Vice President, a role he has held since joining the Board in 2020.
Woodward and Paez join incumbent directors Louise Terry (President), Rod Stringer (Finance), Dennis Basham (Membership & Social Media), Andrew Bartholomew (Corporate Partnerships) and Grace Stubbs (DEI Advocacy & Content) to form the 2025 GALTA Board.
GALTA President Louise Terry told Karryon that the organisation is ready for 2025 with a strong team in place, bringing significant expertise across travel, product, marketing, strategy and events.
“GALTA is looking forward to a great year ahead with a focus on elevating opportunities for our members and delivering more activity in the advocacy space,” Terry said.
“As a not-for-profit organisation, our key objective always is to optimise outcomes for members. As well as being profiled via our digital channels, we are looking at new ways to profile our national membership base, such as campaigns in LGBTQIA+ and mainstream media, hosted travel journalist programs and expanding inbound reach via our global partner IGLTA.
“Building on our actions in the advocacy space, which have recently included supporting Travel + Leisure Co’s strong DEI work and participating as a speaker and sponsor at Brisbane Economic Development Agency’s Welcome with Pride industry education initiative, we are planning to launch an exciting new conference event later this year with more details to come.”
2025 GALTA Board
In addition, the organisation is seeking interest from tourism and travel PR and media members to represent the industry on the 2025 GALTA Board.
GALTA is a national member network across events, accommodation, tours, travel advisors, retail, hospitality and wellness, connecting LGBTQIA+ travellers with welcoming holiday experiences across Australia.
Find out more at visitgayaustralia.com.au
