Helloworld Travel is an Australian-based

travel agency A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...

specialising in Retail, Corporate and Wholesale

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

products and packages. Helloworld Travel is the retail travel business of Helloworld Travel Limited (HLO), with fully branded travel agencies and associate agents located throughout Australia and New Zealand.

History

Helloworld Travel was previously known as "Helloworld".. It was a group of franchised travel agencies based in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is one of the oldest travel agencies in Australia. Since opening its first office in May 1951, it has expanded to over 500 agencies throughout Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. In 2013, Harvey World Travel's parent company, Jetset Travelworld Group (JTG), rebranded the agencies as Helloworld Travel in Australia and New Zealand, as part of a major overhaul that also included JTG being rebranded as Helloworld Ltd. The original brand remains in use in South Africa. The organization has been through a series of mergers and

acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

in recent history, amalgamating existing organizations within its parent company Helloworld Travel Limited. During the re-brand, the size of the network decreased by 9 percent in 2014 and 2 percent in 2015 due to franchisees being unhappy with the decision.

Controversies

In February 2019 media reports revealed that Helloworld had paid for Australian Finance Minister

Mathias Cormann Mathias Hubert Paul Cormann (; ; born 20 September 1970) is a Belgian-born Australian politician and diplomat who currently serves as Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), having assumed the off ...

's flights for a family holiday to Singapore in 2017, within weeks of two Helloworld subsidiaries being awarded contracts to arrange around AUD$1 billion worth of airline and hotel bookings for the Australian government over three years. Reports further revealed that the Australian Ambassador to the USA,

Joe Hockey Joseph Benedict Hockey (born 2 August 1965) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for North Sydney from 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Abbott Government from 18 September 2 ...

, had in April 2017 told Washington embassy staff to meet with an executive from Helloworld. Shortly afterwards, an email from former Helloworld executive Russell Carstensen was tabled in the Australian Senate. The email stated that Helloworld CEO, Andrew Burnes, told him he was able to arrange a meeting on very short notice because Hockey 'owes' him. The Senate was also told that the senior Finance department official in charge of negotiating a new contract with Helloworld, John Sheridan, was moved from his role in July 2017, after Burnes had complained to Senator Cormann and then to the Finance Department head about Sheridan's team's emphasis on savings from the travel contract. Burnes is Treasurer of, and a significant donor to, the Liberal Party of Australia, Hockey and Cormann's party.

Operations

Helloworld Travel has more than 2,000

travel agents A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...

in its retail network around

and

. As at 30 June 2018, the retail network had 2,223 members in Australia and New Zealand. Helloworld Travel uses a franchise model, whereby franchisees are running their own small to medium businesses looking after their own business leasing, staffing, community marketing, and brand marketing.

Australian Retail Operations

In Australia, the Helloworld Travel network consists of fully branded franchise outlets, Associates, Helloworld Business Travel, Magellan Travel, MTA, and My Travel Group. Helloworld Travel is a member of the Franchise Council of Australia, and one of only two travel networks registered in Australia. With franchisees and independent affiliated travel agents, it is the largest independent agent network in Australia.

New Zealand Retail Operations

In New Zealand, the Helloworld network has not changed its branding alongside the Australian operations and remains as HelloWorld. The network is made up of fully branded outlets, My Travel Group and The Travel Brokers.

Television series

In 2018, Helloworld Travel Limited produced and launched the travel television series '' Helloworld'' in conjunction with the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

Australia. The series promotes the Helloworld Travel retail network and its agents, through deals featured that are exclusive to the network. In October 2019, the television series moved across to the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

Awards and recognition

2014 - Best Travel Agency Group, Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) 2016 - Best Travel Agency Group, Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) 2017 - Best Travel Agency Group, Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA) 2018 - Best Travel Agency Brand, Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA)

References

External links

Helloworld Travel website

Helloworld NZ website

Helloworld Travel Limited website

Helloworld Business Travel website

Helloworld TV show official website

Helloworld
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