Hip-hip-hooray! Karryon is celebrating its tenth birthday this April. How on earth has a decade passed already since we first launched? We look back on where it all started and why.
It was April Fool’s Day, 2013 when Karryon’s journey as the voice of the travel industry first began. To this day, I still think some people thought at the time that Karryon really was an April Fool.
“You’re not the voice of the travel industry,” I remember another media person saying to me when we launched. “Perhaps not,” I replied, “But we are certainly aiming to be.”
Looking back, our vision from day one was to connect and elevate the travel industry to meet the changing needs of readers and the broader sector while making a difference.
It’s always been our ‘why’ and the reason I started Karryon.
Connecting people and businesses and fostering a sense of community and belonging has remained at the core of our purpose via providing up-to-the-minute news, resources and stories that matter to our readers for free.
Our commitment to providing an inclusive platform and community for everyone to share their opinions and stories and fostering diversity, fun, and thought leadership has helped us stay true to our mission and garnered the love of our readers.
In 2019 we launched our second title, traveltochangetheworld.com, which focuses on sustainable tourism and travel changemakers making a difference. While the pandemic meant we had to pause operations, stay tuned for some exciting news about the official relaunch in the coming weeks.
The pandemic, of course, brought many challenges, but we remained committed to supporting the industry throughout. We adapted by becoming a COVID-19 resource centre, providing up-to-the-minute news, information and advice for travel professionals while also unabashedly sharing deeply personal stories to find common ground in what was the absolute worst of times.
We also launched our collective ‘Together in Travel’ and ‘Save the Travel Industry’ initiatives, which included a 7,000-member closed Facebook support group (still going strong!) and a government lobbying campaign that notched up over 32,000 signatures and received a ton of mainstream media, allowing everyone to unify, get involved and make their own difference.
Karryon will always be about the people – together in travel
Fast forward to 2023, and as we pop the first champagne corks and begin the 10-year celebrations, we are so utterly grateful to everyone who has supported us and shared our journey.
Starting with you, our amazing loyal readers who contribute daily to the success of Karryon and to our incredible travel industry partners who continue to believe in us and trust us to deliver successful campaigns.
That same sentiment goes for every single person who works or has worked with us over the last decade. While some may have moved on to other things over the years, everyone has contributed significantly to where we proudly stand today.
Saying “thank you” doesn’t even cut it in terms of how appreciative we are. We couldn’t have done it without you, our beloved community, and our incredible partners.
So while we have numerous exciting new initiatives bubbling away to share as part of our next era, our mission will always remain the same – to connect people together in travel.
And, of course, we’ll be celebrating our birthday ALL YEAR! So look out for some exciting initiatives coming soon to get involved in.
The last ten years have been so much fun. When I look back at photos like the ones above, I’m reminded of what an honour it is to be a part of such a fantastic industry and community.
As we all navigate a new chapter for travel, I know I speak for all of the team when I say that we couldn’t be more excited about continuing to help shape the industry’s future.
From all of us at Karryon, thank you for your continued love and support.
Here’s to the next ten years and beyond.
If you’d like to share a memory, story or message with us about your experience of Karryon’s ten-year journey, we’d love to hear it! Drop us a line at matt@karryon.com.au or editor@karryon.com.au
