SELECT GATHERS IN SAIGON

THE Express Travel Group (ETG) last month rolled yet more benefits for its Vfr-focused Select Travel Group members at their annual conference at the Asiana Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Express said Select members had traditionally survived and thrived via organic growth, but were now recognising the benefits of diversifying. Three major new platforms, some of which were revealed to ETG’S Independent Travel Group and italktravel members at their Singapore gathering last year, are now being made available right across the group which describes itself as “Australia’s leading independent, integrated travel business”. The new offerings for Select members include the Express Academy consultant training platform, the group’s in-house Express Performance business management system, and the Book Safe Agent insolvency insurance policy for agents, which Select Travel Group members can now elect to take out alongside their fellow agents in the group’s other brands. The Express Performance system has been a project led by executive general manager Ari Magoutis, and is available at no cost to members in the first year, with the aim of helping them maximise their bottom line. Key features include cost-of-seat measurement and transparent reporting of all revenue streams from air, land, insurance and cruise suppliers which promises to provide owners with a visual platform to launch marketing initiatives, training programs and professional development planning. But it didn’t stop there, with Express Travel Group CEO Tom Manwaring also launching a new multilingual TV commercial as part of a multi-channel brand campaign to promote the Select Travel Group. “Our vision has been to be Australia’s leading independent, integrated travel business,” he told travelbulletin. “The Select Travel Group of agents is unique, not only in its travel markets but also in its customer travel needs. This campaign, as with many we have run across the last 30 years, will drive new business through our members’ doors at no cost to them,” he added.

Our vision has been to be Australia’s leading independent, integrated travel business’