Unbeknownst to the Australian travel industry, a new TV show titled MTAR (My Travel Agency Rules) – a spin off of the much watched MKR (My Kitchen Rules) – has just finished filming its first episode.
Like its culinary inspiration, MTAR (which sounds like some obscure airline surcharge you’d see in Gal) is equally as competitive, bitchy and intense, and the production value is through the roof – all guaranteed to get the Aussie public truly hooked.
But instead of partners, husbands, wives and mates cooking up an impressive storm in their kitchens to charm the tastebuds off their culinary rivals and judges, it’s travel agencies from around Australia who are pulling together to complete specific industry challenges, such as selling a non-budget airline ticket to a student, converting a walk-in inquiry into a $10,000+ cruise booking, and drinking ten pints of beer (or glasses of wine) and then sitting down to timed RTW ticket creation trials.
And all for the grand prize of $126,545 and half a million Qantas FF Points or unlimited flights for a year with Tiger, Scoot or Ryanair (flights to Europe at own expense).
Source: heizerrenderom.wordpress.com
Thankfully, the Australian public won’t have to wait too long for the new show to hit the airwaves, with an inside source tipping a November release date on Net Flix.
To tie us over until then, KarryOn managed to score some exclusive interviews with one of the travel agencies competing in the show, Boozie Holidays from Adelaide, and Joe the boom operator.
All up, eight travel agencies from different parts of Australia are competing in MTAR, but certainly there’s no team more committed to winning than the three girls and one guy from South Australia.
“We absolutely mean business. We’re here to show the Aussie travel industry that South Australians are exceptional Travel Agents. Although most people think that flights out of Adelaide pretty much sell themselves (which is sorta true with interstate and international visitors), it’s not true at all for the locals: these guys need some pushing and prodding.
“We’ve found that showing a short clip of Aussies behaving badly in Bali from A Current Affair increase our conversions ten-fold, says Kris from Boozie Holidays.
Source: News.com.au
When asked what the team would do with the prize money if they were good enough to win, Kris had this to say:
“I saw something about a new airline taking off from Australia. I think it was called Boganaire? If we win I think we’d like to pool some of the prize money into the airline. We just really resonate it and think it will be a hit, especially here in Adelaide.
The new TV show promises to not only remind the viewing public of the important role Travel Agents still play today’s increasingly connected world, but also to shed some light on what it’s like to work in the travel industry.
However, according to Joe the boom operator, one agency was caught with their pants down – or should we say cupboard open?
According to Joe, 15 minutes into filming the office of GoTravel from Victoria, the camera crew stumbled open “vast reserves” of alcohol under the TL’s desk. The show’s clinical psychologist and part-time spiritual healer was then called on set to talk with the team about what looked like the boozy reserves of a team with an alcohol problem.
“I had never seen so much booze before. I mean, I’ve even worked in the music industry and have gone on tour with (name retracted) and (name retracted) – and these guys knew how to drink! But that cupboard was something else… it was absolutely choccas with wine, whiskey and vodka. I think I even saw a couple of bottles of green fairy absinthe in there!”
Source: chowhound.com
GoTravel from Victoria refused to take our calls or answer our emails, but as veterans of the Australian travel industry ourselves, this wouldn’t have come as a surprise at all.
Stay tuned for more updates from My Travel Agency Rules from KarryOn as soon as these come to light.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a KarryOn Comedy article and is obviously satire. It should in no way be taken seriously, unless you want to that is.