Connections Travel Group has marked its 25-year anniversary with a series of morning teas around the country honouring the “giants’’ who helped build the company and signalled a determination to scale new heights in the next 18 months.
Staff connected in person and virtually over cupcakes topped with 25-year icing logos to celebrate the secret sauce that has made it Australia’s largest and fastest-growing independent travel group.
The celebrations come ahead of the Connections Travel Group annual conference to be held on the Gold Coast from 25-26 July. A dedicated supplier event will be held on the Friday evening, celebrating 25 years on the 25th day of the month and thanking suppliers for their ongoing support. An additional supplier event will be held in Adelaide on 19 June to commemorate Connections Travel Group’s third anniversary in Adelaide, plus the 25th Anniversary.
“If 25 years taught me one thing, if you surround yourself with the right people, the right attitude, you can pretty much do anything,’’ founder Gary Reichenberg said.
After walking out of an established travel business in Melbourne in 2000 that had just been taken over by a larger rival, Reichenberg and co-founder Sally Bird reminisced on an “amazing journey’’ that has seen the company grow from humble beginnings to over 135 employees and annual revenue of $250 million.
Bird said she was driven by wanting something better for her clients. She was worried they would get lost in the abyss of internet travel.
“I just wanted to take care of them. I still book those same people,’’ she said. “Melbourne to Sydney, they ring me, they text me and that’s what I love about what I do very much.’’
Now comprising corporate travel business CT Connections, high end leisure travel business Edge Connections and conference and events business Totem Connections, Connections Travel Group has big plans to grow that by a further 30 per cent over the next 12-18 months.
With a philosophy based around the African term ubuntu meaning humanity to others or literally “I am because you are’’, Connections Travel Group has a philosophy that embraces change and encourages staff to see each other as a family.
This philosophy will be at the core of its annual conference on the Gold Coast next month themed ‘Ubuntu Infinite’.
“The essence of ubuntu really does talk to who we are as a people…it is our moral obligation to one another and our community,’’ Reichenberg said.
“There is a beautiful quote which resonates at the particular moment: ‘If I’ve seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’,’’ he said. “People who come after us will be standing on your shoulders.
“That couldn’t be more true today when I think about those who have come before us, when I think of the people who are in the room and online today, there couldn’t be a better group of people to help create what we’ve been able to create today.’’
Reichenberg wants his team to embrace four human behaviours over the 12-18 months: have fun, be present, choose your attitude and make someone’s day.
“Work honestly shouldn’t be a burden,” he said. “If you put the lens of fun on it, you really can see the beauty of it. I’ve seen countless first-time mothers, first-time fathers, I’ve seen countless people going to destinations that they otherwise would never have seen as possible.’’
But he said choosing your attitude was the key to handling life’s difficulties.
“Change disrupts our plans. In 25 years, I have learned that we have to choose our attitude and how we respond to problems when they happen.
“Our attitude is not just about positive thinking. It is about taking ownership to the response and to the solution rather than being part of the problem. These choices define our character.
“I’ve got no idea what the next 25 years is going to be, technology will change things, we will have new challenges, we will have some wins, but we probably will have to figure out solutions we can’t even imagine yet.
“But I feel absolutely confident we’ve got the right group so thank-you each and every one of you for showing up every day and doing what you are doing, for making this a place where it doesn’t feel like work, it feels more like family.’’
