JTG confident of Helloworld growth as brand takes shape

JTG confident of Helloworld growth as brand takes shape
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Jetset Travelworld Group chief executive Rob Gurney is confident that there will be a burst of signings to its new Helloworld network in the wake of the 2013 Owners/Managers Conference held in Melbourne at the weekend.

The new retail brand now has around 200 locations on board, with a further 100 stores currently under negotiation. That number is expected to grow further following the showcasing of the Helloworld concept store at the conference in Melbourne at the weekend which was attended by 650 JTG agents.

Gurney maintained that the take-up of the new brand remains well ahead of schedule and was optimistic about future growth gathering momentum as the brand proposition begins to take shape.

“Planning a store fit-out has to be carefully sequenced and thought through. As nice as it would have been to have 1000 agents in 24 hours, the reality is that the pace we’re moving at is about the right pace,” he said.

Although the first phase of the Helloworld transition is expected to be complete by July or August next year, the process will be ongoing.

“There are always going to be people who get it straight away and embrace it, there are others people that want to sit back to wait and see, and others that will want to take a bit more time.”

He insisted that the transition process has been done in a “very thoughtful” way with an emphasis on being “inclusive”.

“We haven’t gone out and pressured people – we’ve gone out and explained very clearly over quite a long time now why we need a transformation,” he said.

“We don’t think there’s a need for us to rush people – we think as they start to see the brand coming to life, people will be energised.”

The brand proposition has been devised on the back of a major consumer research piece in order to establish the type of experience that expect from a visit to a travel agent.

“The experiences our travel agents have are absolutely highly valued by consumers,” Gurney said of the findings. “Travel is not just financial investment, it’s an emotional investment.”

In addition to informing the development of its new store concept, the emotive nature of travel will play a major role in how JTG brings together its digital and physical world components as part of its multichannel strategy. That strategy includes the launch of a new website in partnership with Orbitz, by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Gurney remained tight-lipped on the future of JTG’s Best Flights business which has been a matter of much speculation in recent months.

“We have a clear role for that business going forward and when we’re ready to talk about that in detail we will,” he said.

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