House of Travel Continues to Expand in Australia

House of Travel Continues to Expand Presence in Australia

7 December 2007 – Kiwi owned and operated House of Travel further demonstrated its intention to grow its presence in Australia by acquiring TravelManagers yesterday. Earlier this year House of Travel Holdings purchased the Australian wholesale company Fiji and Pacific Specialist Holidays, making their official move into Australia.

With regard to its Australian operation, Chris Paulsen outlined that House of Travel’s focus to date had been on building up a strong management team with depth of knowledge and experience, in all aspects of the Australian market including finance, technology, retail, wholesale and supplier relations.

“All of the executives we have employed are Australians. We have done this on purpose to ensure we have people who know the Australian travel market inside out.”

To date House of Travel has appointed an executive team which consists of chief executive, Joe Araullo, a finance director, an IT director and an executive general manager retail. Australian Barry Mayo was appointed to the House of Travel board over a year ago with the sole purpose of driving the expansion into Australia.

“Getting Barry on the board was crucial, he is incredibly well respected in all aspects of the industry from airlines, wholesale and retail. He is pretty much known as Mr. Travel in Australia.”

Chief executive for House of Travel in Australia, Joe Araullo says the TravelManagers business model and the potential for organic growth were key factors in the acquisition.

He claims the TravelManagers model offers experienced travel consultants and managers a real opportunity to have control over their working life.

“It’s a business with solid foundations which will be further strengthened as a result of the partnership approach which House of Travel operates under. It’s a very different model to that which operates in the New Zealand market, whereby experienced people working within the travel industry who want improved flexibility are set up to work from home or as a mobile consultant rather than being tied to an office.”

Araullo says it has grown significantly since its inception in 2005 attracting people who want work-life balance and an opportunity to be much better rewarded for their experience, knowledge and skills. Whether it is right for the New Zealand market is currently under review.

“One of the aspects that attracted me to work for House of Travel has been the technology they specifically developed. It is world leading and has contributed to the average turnover for House of Travel outlets in New Zealand being three times that of its competitors.

“Over time we will look at opportunities to introduce this technology to our travel managers, assisting them to grow their business, increasing their efficiency and ultimately delivering a superior service to their customers.”

Paulsen said this acquisition would take the House f Travel Group’s turnover to well in excess of one billion New Zealand dollars and in excess of 1350 employees.ENDS

The House of Travel Group for New Zealand and Australia has forecasted turnover of $1b for 2008, it has 90 retail outlets (with specialist corporate, adventure and leisure and group travel outlets) throughout New Zealand, its own award winning aggregated booking website www.houseoftravel.co.nz and two wholesale companies (both inbound and outbound). It employs in excess of 1,350 people between New Zealand and Australia and is privately owned and operated since it was established in 1987. Earlier this year House of Travel Holdings purchased the Australian wholesale company Fiji and Pacific Specialist Holidays.

For further information or to speak with Chris Paulsen or Joe Araullo please contact:                                                   

Niki Schuck | PR Manager | House of Travel Ltd 
60 Stanley Street, Level 4, Parnell, PO Box 2837, CX10147, Auckland, New Zealand

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