Envoyage’s Summit 2026 has wrapped in Cairns with global general manager Astrid Richardson and Australia director of operations Lisa Zahra talking to Travel Weekly about further expanding on their growth strategy and technology overhaul unveiled at the conference.
Asked where that growth would come from in a “lumpy” year, Richardson pointed to advisor specialisation.
“A lot of our members have taken the route of niche specialisation because of their unique experience and the client base they’ve built,” she said, noting it allows advisors to build “a really good, small community of travellers that they will always have”.
At the Friday night welcome event, Reef to Rainforest at Boardwalk Social on the Cairns waterfront, Zahra told members the goal was for attendees to leave “with new ideas, deeper product knowledge, and clear growth objectives”.
Richardson, who has taken direct ownership of the Australian market, and Zahra then officially launched proceedings the following day at Cairns Convention Centre before attendees were offered sessions on AI and data-driven growth, new member tools, and industry trends alongside keynote speakers.
Richardson linked this back to the five forces she’d outlined earlier in the summit, telling Travel Weekly that younger travellers in particular are “looking for that connection, that purpose” and “who did I become rather than where did I go”, she said. Advisors need to craft itineraries around that “curated connection style of travel” rather than pure logistics.
AI supported ecosystem
On technology, Richardson said every new tool entering the Envoyage ecosystem is now built AI-first, pointing to Travefy, a global itinerary platform brought in a few months ago with AI-assisted itinerary building, alongside TPConnects, Beacon and Product Showroom. Flight Centre Travel Group has also implemented a dedicated AI Accelerator within its technology division.
“We’ll share those insights with our member network,” Richardson said, adding the group would build partnerships rather than mandate a single AI tool, since “everyone has their personal taste around their AI”.
On support, Richardson said the goal wasn’t to replace people with AI but to place them correctly.
“It’s just knowing when the customer really needs to speak to that person one-on-one,” she said, describing escalation to human support as happening when human judgment is required. She said the business measures customer satisfaction at 92 and Australian member retention at 97 per cent.
Zahra and Richardson both named air distribution complexity as their top operational headache, pointing to the fragmentation between GDS, individual NDC platforms and aggregated booking tools.
“You’ve got GDS over here, you’ve got NDC individual platforms here, you’ve got aggregated booking platforms here, and they’re not all tied together,” Zahra said, framing the TPConnects rollout – allowing members to shop, book and fulfil through a single platform – as the fix.
Richardson said early feedback among members already using it had been positive, and noted it also lowers the barrier for newer advisors less familiar with GDS systems, addressing recruitment challenges facing the wider industry.
On flexibility and choice, Richardson pushed back on the idea that new tools and AI adoption should come with sales expectations attached.
“I don’t have an expectation on them in terms of what they sell,” she said. “I expect our members will have far more choice over how they spend their day, and more of it spent on the parts of this business they actually love.”
Supporting TIME
The pair also flagged the expansion of the TIME Mentoring program, first run in New Zealand, launching in Australia this year with Canada to follow the same path. Richardson and global head of brand and marketing Allie Sparr are both mentoring under the program this year.
On closing the summit, Zahra said the value of the event lay less in content and more in connection.
“It’s not just to hear the content, it’s not just to meet the suppliers, but it’s to connect with one another,” she said.
Richardson agreed, describing the peer-to-peer exchange between advisors at different stages of their careers as the standout theme of member feedback.
“They’re learning from others,” she said “These are people that have experienced it, and you can have that casual conversation that can lead to new ideas and inspiration.”
Attendees also contributed to the School Savvy initiative which encourages people to donate pencil cases filled with essential school supplies like pens, pencils, Textas, glue and scissors to support families in the Cairns community. It began in 2016 as part of Anti-Poverty Week to reduce the burden of school expenses for local children.
Envoyage also recognised members with a series of awards (see below) at a dinner held at Hemingway’s in Cairns.
The Envoyage Summit will return to a global format in 2027, with local conferences in alternate years.
And the winners are…
- Rising Star – Chanel Loxton, Loxton Travel
- Community Impact – Bhim Neupane, Buddha Travel (not pictured)
- Marketing Excellence – Caroline Barrow and Melinda Byrne, Globetrotters Cruise and Touring
- Travel Entrepreneur of the Year – Callum Brown & Roy Dass, BLAST Experiences
- Innovation Award – Gada Selim, Envoyage Miranda
