Hot Off The Press
GTN marks a decade, honours founding agents
The Global Travel Network (GTN) honoured founding members to wrap up the company's 10th Anniversary Conference at the Grand Hyatt in Kuala Lumpur last night.
The Gala Dinner and Awards night included multiple suppliers awards and what has become a regular feature of GTN conference – recognition of three, five and seven years loyalty in the group.
However, this year it also included recognition of agents who have been with GTN for the past decade.
'When we started 10 years ago we had no ticketing, no contracts and no IATA plates. But we also had no agents,' says co-founder Rob Beecher. 'We came up with a list of 55 agents who we hoped would come and work with us – 46 signed in 2016 and 18 of them are in the room tonight.
'Thank you for believing in us because without you there would be no GTN.'
Both Beecher and co-founder Allen Bell had a similar message for suppliers for both past and current support. 'Without the support of suppliers there is no way we would have had this amazing conference (in Kuala Lumpur),' says Bell.
The founding agents recognised last night were:
Aspire Travel Group, Buddha Travel, Dominion Travel & Tours, Everest Travel, Hana Tours, Jetabroad, Lucky Travel, Midday Travel, Mondo Travel Mt Eden, Mondo Travel Hawera, Pacific & International, Planet Earth Travel, Pro Travel,
Silverstream Cruise & Travel, Simplytravel, Sky Travel, Travel Corner, and Travel Partners.
More than 200 members, suppliers, media and otehr supporters attended the conference in Kuala Lumpur.
More coverage in TRAVELinc Memo tomorrow and Friday
GTN award winners
Air India Rising Star Award, Gill Travels
Air New Zealand Advocacy & Loyalty Recognition, Pacific & International
Allianz Recognition Award, AMPED. The Ski Adventure Specialists
Amadeus Top Performer, Gill Travels
AMAWaterways Top Seller, Midday Travel
Armstrong Collective Rising Star Award, Silverstream Cruise & Travel
China Eastern Top Seller, Nina & Chong, Aspire Travel Group
China Southern Highest Growth, Pro Travel
Cruise World Top Sales, Matamata Travel
Delta Airlines Top Supporter Tandem Travel
Exotic Holidays Top Sales, YOUR Travel & Tours
Fiji Airways Top Seller, Salveen Kumar - Travel Advocates
GEM Visa Most Improved YOY, Sehion Tours & Travels
Globus Family of Brands Excellence Award, Midday Travel
Infinity Holidays Top Seller Mark Adams, Travelselect
Kiwi Holiday Insurance Highest Sales 2025-26, Mondo Travel Hawera
LATAM Top Seller, CJ & Travel Brokers
Lufthansa Group winner - Saskia van Waaijenburg, Matamata Travel
Malaysia Airlines Top Supporter, Indokiwi Travel
Q Card Top Seller, Flight Experts
Qantas Top Seller 2026, Planet Earth Travel
Qatar Airways Highest Growth, Mondo Travel Mt Eden
Sabre Sustained Growth, Holiday Travel
Scenic & Emerald Cruises Recognition Award, Midday Travel
Singapore Airlines Top Supporter, Travel Corner
Stuba Top Supporter, YOUR Travel
TBO Holidays Rising Star, Shannell Stanbridge, Travel & Cruise HQ
United Airlines Recognition Award, Kingdom Travel
Viking Top Seller, Maher Tours
Weka Travel Top Agent, Cameron Dellow, Travel Hub
Wendy Wu Top Agency 2025-26, YOUR Travel & Tours
Wild Earth Travel/Niue Tourism Passion for Product, Operatunity
GTN Rep of the Year 2026, Grace Yang, Air New Zealand
Phil Wright, Allianz; Shona Bracey, AMPED, The Ski Adventure Specialists who won the Allianz Recognition Award
Jo Rendall, Infinity Holidays with top seller, Mark Adams, Travelselect
Mondo Travel Hawera's Dianne Tosland and Joanne Nicholas with Shannon Gereaux, Kiwi Holiday insurance
Nigel Bale, Lufthansa Group, Saskia van Waaijenburg, Matamata Travel
Navdeep Kataria, Indokiwi Travel (second from right) with Malaysia Airlines' Karl Bradford, Ryan Woodford-Kelfand Wayne Borland
Katie Meek, Qantas with Edith and Peter Carpenter
Darren Driver and Chris Hammonds from Mondo Travel flank Chris Paykel, Qatar Airways
Edward Lu, Holiday Travel; Simon Amos, Sabre
Scenic and Emerald Cruises' Karyn Blenkiron with Jeffrey Liu and Evelyn Lee, Midday Travel
Michelle McHenry and; Scott Wagstaff, Silverstream Cruise & Travel flank Armstrong Collective's Hannah Taylor
Wayne Gao, Singapore Airlines and Netra Bashyal, Travel Corner
Aaron Nagel, TBO with Shannel Stanbridge, Travel & Cruise HQ
Andy Richards, Maher Travel with Steve Parker, Viking Cruises
Cameron Dellow, Travel Hub with Josh Loughnan, Weka Travel
Grace Yang, Air New Zealand with Allen Bell and Rob Beecher, GTN
Cherryl Borwne, Cruise World (centre) with Matamata Travel's Saskia van Waaijenburg and Julie Morgan-Hughes
Salveen Kumar, Travel Advocates; Sheryn Ambler, Fiji Airways
Jeffrey Liu and Evelyn Lee, Midday Travel with Kate Imrie, Globus
K-Time: Discover Korea event comes as arrivals from NZ continue to grow
The ability to learn a K-Pop dance one day and stay in a Buddhist temple the next is a major part of the appeal for travellers in Korea, visiting DMCs emphasised to agents at the Discover Korea 2026 event in Movenpick Hotel Auckland on Wednesday.
New ownership and name for Vanuatu resort
Breakas Beach Resort has relaunched under a new name, The Beach, Vanuatu, opening its doors to families for the first time alongside its established base of couples and friends.
Event gives trade Taupō update for next season
Ownership changes, product enhancements and new offerings in both accommodation and activities meant inbound agents had plenty to discover at the Taupō Showcase in Crowne Plaza Auckland this week.
Bike safaris in Botswana, cocoa leaf reading on Lake Titicaca and a big incentive
Active safaris, particularly by bicycles, is a growing niche for Botswana, agents heard at Viva Expeditions’ Beyond the Brochure event in Christchurch last night.
