CATO joins forces with Julie King’s Bonailie and One Earth to bring members into 21st century

The Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO) partnered up with Bonailie and One Earth to boost education opportunities for its members as they prepare to recover.

The partnership gives CATO members access to a purpose-led, community platform, which has a focus on shifting businesses and mindsets to a 21st-century approach.

It is designed to provide support to member businesses that have been under pressure during the pandemic, through loss of income and reduction in staff.

Brett Jardine, managing director of CATO, said the next six months will continue to be incredibly challenging, with reduced staff and inexperienced new employees, as customers utilise travel credits, and travel demand increases exponentially, following the long international hiatus.

“During the last 12 months, CATO has prioritised its focus and time on its advocacy pillar to drive our lobbying efforts for the land-supply sector due to the necessity arising from the impact of the global pandemic,” Jardine said.

“Whilst these efforts will continue, we recognise the need to provide additional value to our members, and so we plan to introduce new concepts to our education pillar to support the rebuild and recovery of our industry.

“CATO has taken time to reflect during the pandemic on the current operations of the land supply sector and, as a result, we have assessed the future-proofing requirements for the sector, to ensure sustainability whilst protecting customers.

“As part of that overarching strategy, we have implemented several new initiatives, and we aim to further support our members, through educational tools tailored for business owners and managers to reflect new business models and adapt to a constantly changing environment.”

Julie King, founder and CEO of Bonailie, said the educational opportunities which will be provided as part of the partnership with One Earth, through the ‘Find Your Formula, Audit Your Business for Growth’ Program, which will assist members to review gaps in their businesses and make changes across brand, product, channels and sales.

“This will provide knowledge on how to ‘pull’ customers in by leading with purpose rather than push selling, to allow members to scale and grow,” King said.

“CATO members will also have access to a dedicated virtual ‘classroom’ to collaborate together, a community group to engage together, access to the annual Unite on Purpose Summit (opened by the United Nations), global research, masterclasses, webinars and podcasts from both Bonailie and One Earth.”

As part of Bonailie’s contribution to the industry, for every CATO member signed on to the platform, it will donate a Bonailie Engage Subscription to an individual or business in need of assistance.

Featured image source: iStock/coldsnowstorm