Envoyage: Taking independents to the next level

There was certainly a lot of buzz in the room as 100 travel advisors, travel agency owners and supplier partners gathered at Toronto’s luxurious Hotel X last week for a celebration of the Flight Centre Travel Group’s (FCTG) Independent division’s newly launched global brand, Envoyage.

Anita Emilio, vice president and general manager, Canada for Envoyage, began the evening’s journey, welcoming those attending and pointing out that the launch of Envoyage has created a lot of excitement both with members of its network and with its supplier partners.

The journey to the late spring Toronto celebration began back in February of this year when Flight Centre Travel Group’s (FCTG) Independent division brought all of its brands together under a single global brand, Envoyage … which features the tagline, ‘for every journey.’

Until then, FCTG had multiple independent brands operating in different markets around the world and trading under different names, including Independent by Flight Centre which had been operating in Canada since 2008.

Now, Envoyage is the global brand for all of the company’s independent network and is being rolled out in Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

During the June 5 event, both Emilio and global COO, Astrid Richardson explained that Envoyage both modernizes and elevates FCTG’s independent brand – bringing all of its independent brands under one umbrella and one name — and delivers to its 2,000 members a single, global brand that better represents and reflects both them and their customers.

And Envoyage has certainly caught on with those members as its recent For Every Journey-themed conference in Santiago, Chile attracted 300 travel professionals from the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand who were eager to discover the future course of travel advisor services that Envoyage has planned for them and their customers.

In fact, at the Toronto event, Emilio provided more than a glimpse of that future, telling her audience that as the network elevates its offerings to its members, it is preparing to launch Envoyage Luxury and Envoyage Corporate Travel programs for those members.

Asked about the response from members, Richardson told Travel Press Today that “advisors and agency owners have warmly welcomed the new brand,” adding that they “see the beauty and elegance of the new brand logo and its messaging,” adding that Envoyage’s supplier partners have also reacted positively.

Looking ahead, both Emilio and Richardson make it abundantly clear that Envoyage is looking to grow its business, so stay tuned and expect a lot more from them.

In the photos

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The Envoyage team, from l to r, are photo: Erin Ryan, Michael Roque, Astrid Richardson, Maria Ines, Heather Baker, Sara Spring, Jill Poulton, Anita Emilio and Voula Limniatis (Envoyage Support Team). (Photo by Bernardo Celorio)

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Envoyage’s Anita Emilio, vice president and general manager, Canada  and Astrid Richardson, Envoyage’s global COO.