A packed agenda and line-up of speakers ensured there was no sophomore slump for Beyond Borders on Friday, as the travel industry summit returned for an even bigger edition in 2025.
This year’s event took place in Brisbane – itself a statement of the Australian Travel Industry Association’s (ATIA) intent to make this a truly national event; after debuting in Sydney in 2024, the event also travelled to Adelaide and Perth earlier this year.
To get the ball rolling, ATIA unveiled not one, but two major initiatives at the conference: the launch of the Committee of Independent Travel Agents and Advisors (CTA) and a new strategic partnership with Roy Morgan.
Both are significant for the industry.
Independent voices, united future
The CTA aims to give independent agents a stronger and more structured voice within ATIA’s national leadership.
The initiative builds on ATIA’s 2024 pledge for each board director to represent a specific member segment, ensuring all parts of the industry – from tour operators to corporates – have a say at board level.
Following its partnership with the Association of Travel Management Companies (ATMC) to represent corporate agents, ATIA has now extended that model to independents through the CTA.
The new committee will help members identify priorities, influence policy and tackle challenges unique to their businesses.
The formation of the first group is expected by late 2025.
“The launch of CTA is the result of almost a year’s work to strengthen segment-specific representation within ATIA,” ATIA Chair Christian Hunter said.
“It’s a deliberate and strategic step forward and another milestone in our plan to give every member segment a clear voice in national decision-making.”
“Independent agents have always been a vital part of ATIA. With CTA, they now have a formal seat at the table, shaping the agenda, influencing outcomes, and staying connected to the advocacy and policy work that drives their businesses forward.”
Insight-driven leadership
During Beyond Borders, ATIA also announced a strategic partnership with Roy Morgan, giving members exclusive access to high-quality travel and consumer data.
The collaboration will deliver two annual Spotlight Reports and targeted polls on key trends across leisure and corporate markets, tracking consumer confidence and travel intent – key measures of traveller behaviour and demand.
By combining Roy Morgan’s analytics with ATIA’s national network, the partnership looks to provide members with actionable insights to anticipate market shifts and plan ahead.
The first Spotlight Report will arrive early next year, with key findings shared publicly to enhance industry understanding.
ATIA says the initiative reflects its commitment to giving members real, data-informed value.
“This partnership gives ATIA members access to credible, independent insights that were once out of reach for small and medium travel businesses, intelligence that helps them make better decisions, faster,” ATIA CEO Dean Long said.
“By securing Roy Morgan as ATIA’s Data partner, we’re empowering our members to forecast demand, understand consumer confidence, and adapt their businesses with greater certainty.”
Roy Morgan CEO Michelle Levine said the pact is “an important statement about the strength of the Australian travel industry and the bright future ahead of us”.
“Roy Morgan’s partnership with ATIA will allow travel businesses of all shapes, sizes, and industry niches to draw upon the extensive data we have readily available at our fingertips to pinpoint the important challenges facing the travel industry,” she remarked.
“Roy Morgan draws upon the power of in-depth interviews conducted with thousands of Australians each week around the country to analyse the mood and direction of the Australian people, and importantly, distil how these factors will influence the travel industry into the future – both short and long-term.
AI, unity and the human touch
The future of travel, and those navigating it, took centre stage during Beyond Borders’ headline panel discussion, which brought together industry heavyweights Helloworld Travel Executive Director Cinzia Burnes, Flight Centre Travel Group Founder and Managing Director Graham “Skroo” Turner, Webjet Group Managing Director Katrina Barry, and Collette Executive Vice President of Global Sales Christian Leibl-Cote.
Between them, the panellists tackled big themes including AI, workforce challenges, competition, collaboration and global travel trends.
On artificial intelligence, opinions were mixed but measured.
Burnes said while AI offered enormous potential, it could never replace human connection.
“I think the value of AI is incredible for a lot of things, but it’s not going to replace Mary with Mary bot, because when you’ve got passengers overseas with a problem [who] call… you could get the computer says ‘no’ [response],” she said, to loud laughter.
Turner agreed, saying the technology posed both challenges and opportunities.
“Certainly for people in general retail travel… there are going to be real challenges there, and how we cope with that is going to be really important, as an industry,” he stated.
“I think having strong competition is one of the most important things in an industry, whether that’s in travel or tour operations or other things. We don’t want too much competition, but having worthy rivals is really important for the industry.”
The conversation often returned to the power of unity – a theme that resonated strongly throughout the event.
Barry said the industry’s collective strength had been tested and proven through COVID and remains crucial now.
“I fundamentally believe anything in life, you are stronger together,” she said.
“I think that means that one voice as an advocate externally is extremely important. You do not want to be fragmented.
“When we as one voice can speak articulately and clearly on what matters to us and what matters to all of us, then I think that creates a stronger industry. It’s all about trust and credibility.”
People, priorities and a shifting workforce
When the conversation turned to talent, panellists spoke candidly about the ongoing struggle to attract and retain staff.
Turner described the post-pandemic rebuild as a significant challenge, noting that Flight Centre went from 21,000 people to 6,500 globally during COVID, before rebuilding to around 15,000 today.
“Building the talent and knowledge up again is going to be quite a challenge,” he said.
“The gap year program is a good initiative – we need to get more people interested early in their careers.”
Barry said the workplace itself had evolved.
“It’s a different culture now… one that’s far more family friendly,” she said.
“We’re missing a bit in teaching younger generations… that you don’t get as many people coming through the industry and really learning and becoming your leaders.”
Burnes agreed that passion remains essential in attracting talent.
“It’s difficult to actually convince people, unless they absolutely love travel… to convince them to come in for a career in travel,” she said.
Destinations and demand trends
Beyond workforce and technology, panellists also shared insights on where travellers are heading – and where the next big opportunities might lie.
Burnes said the United States continues to perform strongly for Helloworld, with both iconic and lesser-known destinations gaining traction. This is despite overall travel to the US from Australia dropping this year.
“We have done a lot of campaigns in less-known states, specific destinations with specific attractions, and they have been, honestly more successful than I thought they would be,” she explained.
“Obviously, Japan. But Vietnam certainly has been a new destination for us in terms of packaging.”
And despite growing feedback about its rising costs, “Europe is still very popular.”
Meanwhile, Leibl-Cote highlighted Nordic countries, East Africa, and regions such as the Yukon as rising stars, while Barry noted a growing preference for short-haul travel, especially to Asia and Fiji.
Karryon is in Brisbane for Beyond Borders. In total, 450 ATIA members, partners and stakeholders attended the summit, held at The Star Brisbane.
Stay tuned to Karryon for all the winners at NTIA 2025.
