“Eight months ago, I thought I was going to be standing here in a Polynesian shirt saying, ‘Bula’ a lot. Times change. Plans change, and now we find ourselves here in Adelaide.” Express Travel Group (ETG) Group General Manager Jason Aghan’s words at the official welcome of ETG’s Xchange 2025 conference indeed cap a year of evolution for the company – and indeed the industry, especially as NDC and AI rise in relevance. But this is positive change. Karryon sets off to South Australia for a special edition of the conference to find out more.
As Aghan alludes to, ETG’s showcase event was initially slated to be in Fiji. Instead, the group held its first-ever domestic conference in South Australia.
More significantly, it’s the first conference without Tom Manwaring, Express Travel Group’s Founder and recently retired CEO and Director, at the helm.
All told, it feels as though ETG is venturing into a new era, albeit with a few familiar guardrails in place.
One is Aghan, Manwaring’s successor and a trusted figure within the organisation for seven years.
In an interview with Karryon at the event, Jason said his priority is to “make sure that we continue to keep that feel within the company and with our members, because it’s been a cornerstone of our success”.
“One thing that we pride ourselves on in this company is the fact that we are all accessible to all our members. They can call any of us. It’s very flat, our structure, and everyone’s all in.”
“So I just want to make sure, particularly for the first six months of this role, that it remains as it was, and we keep that intact, because the business is probably as robust as it ever has been, and that’s also got to do with the alignment with Helloworld,” said Aghan, who was also elevated to the executive management team at Helloworld, which purchased ETG in 2023.
(Hello)world of opportunity
Speaking to attendees at the Xchange, the new Express Travel Group boss emphasised the benefits of being part of Helloworld, including having access to technology like the SmartTickets platform.
“I remember two years ago when Tom spoke at Singapore [Xchange 2023]. He spoke about the importance of being part of a larger entity, and he was absolutely spot on, he remarked.
“Our business right now, is probably the strongest it’s ever been – and that’s purely as a result of being aligned to a much bigger organisation, where you have a lot more access to people who have a lot more access to resources, and you’re coming in on basically any initiative that’s been undertaken by the organisation.”
Aghan, in particular, flags the group’s access to Helloworld’s SmartTickets platform, which ETG agents know as ExpressTickets.
“ExpressTickets is only going to continue to evolve for us. I believe it’s market-leading now, but it is so important for technology to keep up with what airlines are doing in the NDC [New Distribution Capability] space,” he told Karryon.
“This is massive, and it’s big because it ultimately will create a situation for agents to be able to make a lot more margin than relying on a commission through this distribution method that airlines have taken.”
ETG, Aghan says, knows ExpressTickets is working “because we’ve used other systems, and on top of that, we’re constantly called by agencies with other groups wanting access to that platform”.
With Qantas recently ramping up its adoption of NDC, Jason says ETG’s top priority is delivering “a system that can handle NDC transactions seamlessly from start to finish”.
“Some of the biggest issues that we’re noticing are post-ticketing and the concerns around that, with some airlines, but it is not going away, and it is going to be an area of opportunity from an incremental revenue standpoint,” he told attendees.
Tom’s take
Even though he officially stepped down from the CEO role on 30 June, was anyone really surprised to see Tom Manwaring at this year’s conference?
Speaking to conference guests at the event as ETG chair, Tom reflected on a travel career spanning 55 years. He also emphasised the travel sector’s $72 billion contribution to the Australian economy and its resilience through crises like SARS, GFC, and of course, COVID-19. And Tom has been there through it all.
Right now, however, Manwaring is optimistic about the future of travel.
“From a customer point of view”, he says that “everyone I speak to, which is everyone in our neighbourhood in Hampton, Victoria, from chemists down to the butcher in the local shops, at some stage of the conversation, talks about travel”.
“And it’s just a little barometer that shows you that the industry itself is really first or second on the list of things people want to do, and nothing’s going to change that.”
Despite the challenges facing it, Tom’s also bullish about the role of the travel agency sector.
“AI is certainly going to change the way we do business, to a degree,” he explains.
“We worried when mobile phones came in, and we worried about the internet and online bookings, [but] most of the people in this room, I believe, have had record years.”
“Yes, some will go direct to airlines; some will go direct to suppliers, and that’s everybody’s right. But a lot of them as well, will come into your shops… and plan itineraries and fabulous journeys that you’ve done yourself, and only you know the places to go.”
“Because technology can do a bit, but it has to be fed with news, and you get that news every time you get on an airplane.”
In addition, the Express Travel Group chair urged advisors to charge fees for their knowledge.
“Margins will be diminishing because of the reduction in commissions. But you don’t rely on commissions to run your business. You run your business by growing revenue and charging for your expertise,” he said.
And ETG members are nothing if not travel experts.
Conference kick-off
Taking place at SkyCity in Adelaide, ETG’s annual showcase event kicked off with over 150 travel advisors in attendance representing almost 100 agencies representing the group’s five networks: Select Travel Group, Independent Travel Group, italktravel & cruise, Independent Travel Advisors and Alatus.
On the supplier side, nearly 60 sellers from virtually every sector joined the conference, including airlines, cruises, tours, hotels, luxury, wholesale, insurance and more.
Opening night set the tone of the conference with a warm, witty Welcome to Country, followed by a Helloworld Group update from Andrew Burnes AO on day one. From there, ETB Xchange 2025 rolled out a full program of connection, collaboration and conversation, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.
Stay tuned for more from the event.
The writer is a guest of Express Travel Group. All images by Mark Harada.
For more information, visit etg.travel.
