Flight Centre reveals groundbreaking new tech for independent agents

Flight Centre reveals groundbreaking new tech for independent agents

Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has unveiled a new digital ecosystem to help independent travel agents run their businesses smoothly.

FCTG Independent will roll out the new platform, called Home, across its three Australian brands: Travel Partners, Travel Associates at Home and Flight Centre Independent.

Created in early 2020, FCTG Independent was established in response to the huge potential presented by the independent business model in a post-COVID world.

Home is touted as a tailored and intuitive solution to help stoke the return of travel with comprehensive support, tools, and necessary connections that enable business growth for member agencies and mobile consultants globally.

The platform is designed to save time by placing all the tools an independent agent needs in one place so they can focus on doing what they do best: delivering exceptional service to their clients and driving revenue.

According to Astrid Richardson, FCTG Independent’s Australian GM, her team has worked tirelessly on Home over the past 18 months to deliver a solution that will serve the brand’s growing network of 300 independent agencies and mobile consultants across Australia.

“We admire and applaud the devotion and ambition of independent travel agents and want to help them thrive with the backing of Australia’s largest travel agency group,” Richardson said.

“No longer will travel consultants have to waste hours searching for supplier details, navigating complex systems, comparing prices or worrying about new regulations and requirements.”

The development comes just days after Flight Centre responded to claims that its retail network was “losing relevance”.

Brian Han, a market analyst for Morningstar, told the Sydney Morning Herald Flight Centre’s leisure business faced a long-term decline as consumers increasingly turn to online and direct bookings.

Han said Flight Centre’s retail network was losing relevance after almost half its roughly 1,000 brick and mortar stores closed in 2020.

A spokesperson for Flight Centre told Travel Weekly leisure would continue to play a “crucial role” in the company’s future.

“While we made some changes during the pandemic, we have maintained a very strong leisure network that incorporates multiple channels for customers,” the spokesperson said.

“This network is underpinned by an extensive retail shop footprint that remains highly accessible and it also includes websites, call centres and a growing stable of independent contractors.”

The spokesperson said Flight Centre expected these new channels to capture a greater share of its earnings, with online now generating about 20 per cent of bookings, which is more than double the eight per cent the company saw before the pandemic.

Latest News

  • Cruise

P&O rescues Rotary volunteers after collapse of Air Vanuatu

P&O Cruises Australia has answered a plea for help from a group of young Australian Rotary volunteers, stranded in Vanuatu following the collapse of Air Vanuatu. The students, many of them teenagers from Albury, NSW, were volunteering for a youth project run by the Hive Rotary Club Australia when the airline abruptly cancelled all flights, […]

  • Destinations

Intrepid continues expansions with launch of first DMC in Jordan

Intrepid has increased its presence in the Middle East with the opening of its first destination management company in Jordan. Based in Amman, the local team will operate Intrepid’s range of nine experiential small group tours in Jordan from this summer, with a view to expanding the range for 2025 and beyond. Zina Bencheikh, managing […]

  • Appointments

Minor hotels appoints Puneet Dhawan to key Asia role

Global hotel owner and operator Minor Hotels has appointed Puneet Dhawan as head of Asia as the group plots its growth in Asia and India. From July, Dhawan will be responsible for the performance of all Minor Hotels properties in Asia, working in close collaboration with the Minor Hotels senior leadership team and will report […]

  • Appointments

Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal appoint Evon Ler to director of sales, Asia

Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group have announced that Evon Ler will join them in the new role of director of sales, Asia. She will work closely with Tony Archbold (VP, Sales, APAC, Crystal) and Susan Haberle (VP, Sales & Partnerships, APAC, A&K) with trade support across the region. Ler comes to the A&K family with more […]