2018 starts strong for HLO

HELLOWORLD Travel has had a healthy beginning to 2018, with chief executive officer Andrew Burnes last night saying Jan had been a “pretty good month” for the company as he thanked suppliers for their support.

He was echoing comments by HLO executive director Cinzia Burnes at a preferred partner gathering, which encompassed industry suppliers right across the company’s inbound, wholesale and outbound divisions.

“We continue to have very strong performance in the inbound division, it’s very, very strong,” Cinzia Burnes said.

Last night marked exactly two years and eight days since the Burnes’ acquired 40% of HLO, and Cinzia said restructuring over that period was now seeing everything approached on a group-wide basis - hence the combined inbound and outbound gathering.

Andrew Burnes noted the proliferation of Helloworld advertising which was continuing to drive demand for suppliers and agents, while the event also saw the introduction of the company’s new group general manager John Constable ( TD Tue) who officially starts next Mon, as well as HLO’s NZ head Simon McKearney.

A sombre moment saw Andrew Burnes toast the late Barry Matters, former APT md ( TD Mon), whose life will be celebrated in a funeral service in Melbourne today.

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HELLOWORLD Travel hosted its outbound and inbound supplier partners at a cocktail reception in Sydney last night (see page 1), with the event providing an opportunity to introduce the company’s newly appointed group general manager of retail and commercial, John Constable.

Also present was Simon McKearney, head of HLO’s operations in New Zealand who took the opportunity to address the crowd and speak about his aspirations to boost links with many of the suppliers present.

Helloworld Travel ceo Andrew Burnes and executive director Cinzia Burnes, both of whom also spoke at the event, are pictured above with Constable (left) and McKearney.

Lots more party pictures at facebook.com/traveldaily.