'Voluntourism' and booking engine focus for Travel Partners

'Voluntourism' and booking engine focus for Travel Partners
By admin


Some 120 guests from across Australia attended the Travel Partners conference in Sydney last weekend, which also coincided with the launch of the company’s new website.

Over the course of the two-day conference, delegates were given a first look at the travelpartners.com.au website, which will enable individual agents to have their own site set up complete with booking engine to enable customers to book flights, including LCC’s, car hire, hotels and other travel related products, the company said. The first of the new sites is expected to launch by the end of 2014.

“The Travel Partners philosophy is to enable its members to interact with the customer directly and that’s why we have developed a “turnkey” solution for our agents to sell online and earn commission directly from their bookings,” Travel Partners managing direct, Jeff Hakim said.

Hakim said the group was trading well, and had experienced “significant growth” this past year, with an additional 50-60 members expected to join over the next 12 months.

Conference attendees listened to keynote speaker Justin Herald on “How to grow your business without spending a single cent” and Gate 7 managing director, Jo Palmer on other business related topics.

Travel Partners also announced it has teamed up with youth Charity Kids Giving Back to launch an exclusive series of volunteering tourism projects aimed at school and university age travellers to experience working on genuine volunteer projects in South East Asia. The exclusive packages will be launched later this year in conjunction with The Bamboo Project.

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The conference concluded with a gala dinner with awards presented to:  

Business Growth NSW – Tanya Ives

Business Growth VIC – Tony Miles

Business Growth QLD – Lesley Royle

Business Growth WA – Daniela Tatonetti

Premier Achiever NSW – Brad Thomas

Premier Achiever VIC – Eiko Shingae

Premier Achiever QLD – Jacki Scroggie

Premier Achiever WA – Jill Wilkinson

Premier Affiliate Agency – Adriatic Adventures and Tours

Travel Partners Excellence Award  –  Glenda Prudius of Amadeus.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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