Recommend May2017 - 54

Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Travel Agents Sell Travel

Goway Travel
"Goway has always focused
on helping travel agents
sell, and we work hard to
give their clients the best
service and value. In the
end, it is travel agents who
have made us as successful
as we are, and in the age of
consortiums, we are proud
to have strong relationships
with some serious agents
out there."
- Bronwyn Hodge,
General Manager,
IslandsEscapes by Goway

Meet Bronwyn and Adam Hodge,
general manager of IslandsEscapes
by Goway and marketing manager,
respectively, for Goway Travel,
founded, they both tell us, by their
father Bruce Hodge, who in 1970
"with passion and dedication, opened
for business with just $300 and a
reservations system operated by
telegraph." Wow, what a start; let's get
an update on this family business.
Says Bronwyn: "Goway has always
focused on helping travel agents sell,
and we work hard to give their clients
the best service and value. In the end,
it is travel agents who have made us
as successful as we are, and in the age
of consortiums, we are proud to have
strong relationships with some serious
agents out there." One of those is
Laura Tyree, travel consultant-group
& incentive sales specialist at Travel
Lovers, who says "When I found
Goway-where I work with six or seven
different destination experts who, even
with my difficult, unique requests, have
never let me down-I struck gold.
Goway's knowledge, reliability and
very competitive pricing keep me
coming back."
Bronwyn adds: "Both the diversity
54 may 2017

in our product and our destination
specialist teams have been key. We
have many eggs in many baskets,
including six core destination brands,
a groups division, an air division, a
corporate division, and a Sydney,
Australia-based inbound office."
According to Adam: "Goway is not
a luxury company, per se. We offer
three-, four- and five-star products, for
we believe there's great opportunity
in being a more general soft-travel
brand, rather than strictly high-end
adventure or luxury. We can handle
the 20-somethings on an overland trip
through Africa, the first and second
honeymoon trip to Tahiti, and the
70-somethings on a multi-generation
Galapagos adventure. We are really
trying to ensure we're positioned to
handle a lifetime of travel experiences
for all kinds of globetrotters-those
travel agent clients we think of as
'real travelers.'"
Adam adds: "Since the financial
crisis of late 2008 and the downturn in
business for everyone, we've continually
been reinvesting in technology as
a key part of our future, including
improvements in our res system
and integration with suppliers. The

complexity of getting online and a good
website has seen our marketing team
completely evolve and change in the
last few years."
Bronwyn reports: "Among Goway's
newest travel destinations is Europe,
added to the product line two years
ago, and growing steadily. And we love
self-drives, newly expanded in Europe,
as well as in Australia, New Zealand
and South Africa. Actually, South
Africa has been very popular because
of the exchange rate and its incredible
value for money, and cruising is doing
spectacularly well. And to meet the
demand for immersive experiences
enriched with local culture, Goway has
introduced a Live Like a Local program
in Australia, Cook Islands and New
Zealand where our clients stay among
the locals, learning their traditions,
sharing their ways of life."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Laura F. Tyree, Travel Consultant Group & Incentive Sales Specialist
19129 Forest Road, Lynchburg,
VA 24502
Tel: (434) 385-5192
E-mail: Laura@travellovers.com
Website: goway.com
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