Travellers Choice names top agents

Travellers Choice is a network of quality, independent travel agents in Australia — and they name award winners at the end of the year.

And WA agencies have scored well in the 2024-25 Choice Awards.

+ Gold Everywhere Travel.

+ Silver Capricorn Travel.

+ Bronze Carine Travel Bug. James St Cruise & Travel.

Christian Hunter, managing director of Travellers Choice, says award-winners demonstrate outstanding levels of travel expertise, customer service and business acumen.

Sue Holmes, owner of Carine Travel Bug, adds: “Every member of our agency is committed to using their professional expertise and personal experience to find the best travel solutions for our customers.”

For over 45 years, Travellers Choice has been backing travel agencies which are locally-owned, so customers are supporting a business that belongs in a local community and employs locals.

A spokesperson for Travellers Choice says the agents in the network have a longstanding interest and passion for travel: “They will give you the peace of mind that only comes from booking with a travel agent.”

Part of the picture is education. For example, Bronze Choice Award-winners receive a prize grant of $750 and a spot on one of three journeys — to Zanzibar and the Masai Mara in East Africa, a tour of Iceland during aurora season or an Alaskan cruise to ports like Sitka and Juneau, as well as cruising the Dawes Glacier and Endicott Arm.

Sue explains: “This is a wonderful opportunity to ensure our agency’s clients continue to benefit from the most up-to-date, firsthand knowledge of popular and emerging holiday destinations for Australian travellers.”

travellerschoice.com.au

HOW IT HAPPENS

A spokesperson for Travellers Choice explains.

The Choice Awards recognise and reward members making the greatest contribution to Travellers Choice through preferred supplier sales.

These sales are a fundamental element of our 48-year history of supporting independent travel agency businesses.

Travellers Choice was founded as a cooperative buying group for WA-based agencies in 1977, and traded for many years as the Community Travel Group as we expanded into an Australia-wide network.

In the late 1990s and reflecting members’ determination to better compete with other retail travel branded outlets, the organisation transformed into a national marketing group and launched the Travellers Choice brand in 2001.

Although the business is now an unlisted public company, cooperative principles have been retained in the constitution.

These include member-only shareholders, a single vote regardless of shareholding, member majority Board representation and – importantly - the return of company profits to members through a combination of dividends on shares held and trading rebates based on sales support.

These practices reflect our status of being genuinely member-owned and member-governed, and underpin our objective of sustainably creating, protecting and returning value to members.

The top 30 agents are recognised as Gold, Silver or Bronze winners based on financial results achieved during the last complete financial year. Winners are invited to participate in a Choice Reward Trip hosted by a preferred supplier partner and receive a Travellers Choice Service Grant.