Travellers Choice picked up the award for Most Outstanding Non Branded Agency Group at the recent National Travel Industry Awards (again). And part of this success comes down to one question the group always asks itself. Karryon catches up with Managing Director Christian Hunter to find out more…
Considering this was the first NTIA since 2019, how special does this year’s award feel?
We have been lucky enough to receive multiple NTIA honours, but for me this is the most special of all the awards we have won.
Just knowing what the industry has been through over last two years, what our members have been through, and the lengths to which we went support them – to have that effort and commitment recognised by the broader travel industry is truly special.
To what do you attribute Travellers Choice’s win?
Without question, I think this award recognises the extraordinary support we provided our members through the pandemic.
We provided our members with the support they needed; at the time they needed it the most. And, most importantly, that support hasn’t stopped.
It’s also about the nature of that support. From the beginning, we understood that our members needed more than just hands-on assistance with business-related issues, such as resolving bookings issues. That’s why we introduced a range of initiatives designed to help our members maintain their mental and physical wellbeing.
At the same time, we made changes within the Travellers Choice business to ensure that we not only survived, but that our value proposition remained absolutely relevant to our existing members and highly-attractive to prospective members.
How has the pandemic changed the way you operate?
Like any travel industry company, we have had to restructure the way we operate. We don’t have the same level of resources that we had before COVID, so we have to be more strategic and ensure that everything we do adds value to our members and ensures we remain relevant to their business.
With everything we do, we ask a simple question, “will this have a positive impact on our members?”. If we can’t answer in the affirmative, we don’t do it.
Of course, the needs of our members are continuing to evolve, so it’s about constantly being nimble and fit-for-purpose.
Where to now for the industry?
It’s clear, even from the recent budget announcement, that there is currently a certain amount of caution about Australia’s economic expectations. Nevertheless, I believe the travel industry will continue to rebound with strong growth.
There continues to be incredible demand for travel and people clearly want to claw back the time that was taken from them over the past couple of years!
We are seeing no indication that this will change any time soon and it appears that travel will continue to be very high on the shopping list for many, almost regardless of the broader economic circumstances.
What do you love most about the travel industry?
For me, I love the fact that we sell a really exciting product, we work with like-minded people, we have a focus on fun as well as hard work, and we get to do some really cool things!
I often talk to people in other industries, and they simply don’t seem to have as a good a time as people in the travel industry. You so often see people move around within the travel industry, but they seldom move on from the travel industry – that happens for a reason, travel gets in your blood!
For more information visit travellerschoice.com.au
