On Location: From AI to “Amazon-speed” service: Envoyage unpacks future of travel at Worldwide South Africa

Against a backdrop of thumping gumboot dancers, mischievous monkeys and the unmistakable beats of Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” song, Envoyage’s 2025 Worldwide conference, “Beyond Every Journey,” formally kicked off on Saturday (Sept. 13) in the resort complex of Sun City, South Africa.  

In her opening address, Danielle Galloway, global managing director of luxury and independent brands at Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG), who heads Envoyage, welcomed an audience of more than 400 travel advisors and supplier partners from Canada, the United States, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, inviting them to embark on a safari – metaphorically, at least.

She began with one of her favourite quotes. “Two million wildebeests don’t migrate because it’s safe,” Galloway told the room. “They migrate because standing still is the greatest danger of all. And we know that at Envoyage.”

With that, Galloway led the audience on a tour through Envoyage’s ecosystem, comparing its strategies — and the spirit of its members — to the wildlife roaming in Pilanesberg National Park, just beyond the Sun City Convention Centre, where travel pros spent the weekend in presentations about AI and social media, at a bustling “Partner Showcase” trade show and on dance floors at parties themed around safaris, “earth and embers” and beach clubs.

Envoyage takes flight

Launched in early 2024 to rebrand and retire the long-running Independent by Flight Centre brand, Envoyage has quickly become, as Galloway put it, “a movement of these incredible travel professionals here and at home.”

The rollout of Envoyage across its various markets has been gradual and strategic.

READ MORE: Independent By Flight Centre celebrates the Canadian launch of its Envoyage rebrand

It first launched in the United States in early 2024, followed by a debut in Canada in June that same year.

Previously, Australia-based FCTG had independent brands all over the world.

The creation of Envoyage was meant to effectively tie everything, and everyone, together, giving agents and agency owners access to a central ecosystem of products and tech, from NDC platforms like TPConnects to AI-powered tools.

At its core, Envoyage leverages best practices from across the globe.

Step into the Lions’ Lair

Several of those lessons where shared this past weekend at Worldwide, an event Envoyage debuted in Santiago, Chile last year.

New this year was the Worldwide Entrepreneur Round Table — a 60-minute collaborative forum where advisors from across the globe gathered to exchange sales strategies.

The art of pitching a business concept also took centre stage with another new addition called “Lions Lair.”

Inspired by TV shows like Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, this session saw five travel advisors, from five nations, present project ideas on stage, before the full delegation and a panel of judges, competing for a $5,000 investment.

Bernardo Celorio represented Canada in the competition, pitching The Tow Collective, a content creation service for advisors that sets up social media (like reels), builds content calendars, and more.

In the end, Chad Naylor of Australia's Cruise and Travel Store won the contest, impressing the Lions with a platform called Travel Tracker, an AI-powered inquiry tool that streamlines aspects of the travel sales process where human efficiency can sometimes slip — such as sending prompt follow-ups or welcome-home messages.

READ MORE: On Location: “Beyond Every Journey": Envoyage Worldwide conference kicks off in South Africa

Worldwide’s global product expo returned, featuring fifty suppliers from around the world. Rapid-fire “Worldwide Connects” meetings and panel discussions about the latest travel trends also unfolded. 

The program featured an air marketplace panel hosted by Sue Garrett,  general manager supply, pricing and marketing, FCTG South Africa, Caroline Hitchen, general manager, CruiseHQ, and a technology showcase with Wendie Lee, chief product officer (technology), luxury and independent brands.  

Attendees also heard from adventurer and entrepreneur Brett Archibald, who shared his gripping 28-hour survival story at sea.

Attendees, meanwhile, earned “Worldwide Dollars” by participating in sessions and staying engaged. This exclusive currency was later redeemed at a rousing Worldwide Auction, featuring an array of travel prizes, on Monday (Sept. 15) as the event wrapped up.  

Perhaps the most eye-opening session was a presentation by marketing technologist Kha Ly, who discussed the evolution of social media algorithms.

READ MORE: On Location: Canadian travel advisors shine at Envoyage Worldwide in South Africa

He explained how 42 per cent of AI-generated content, today, is travel related – which bodes well for travel advisors looking to maximize their brand visibility and generate more client opportunities.

Google has shifted to AI-generated answers, pulling sources from Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube more than from websites, Ly explained.

With this, advisors who treat their social media as a distribution platform—creating authentic videos (like reels, which perform best), activating professional/creator tools, and publishing where AI search engines pull data—can rapidly grow their visibility and client leads. 

Worldwide, at many times, felt like a launchpad for the future of travel — propelling forward-thinking ideas into orbit.

“Our global vision at Envoyage is to be the home and the heart of the travel industry,” Galloway told attendees in her opening address.  

Getting future fit

The numbers are validating: a global network once worth about $30 million in 2018, Envoyage has surged to $2.4 billion today, with 3,500 members across five markets (potentially six), Galloway said.

And it’s not just the company that’s succeeding — members are thriving too, said Galloway, highlighting select advisors who have grown their independent, home-based businesses over the past 12 months.

Canada’s Janis Crute, whose sales have jumped 715 per cent, is one of them.

High-level specialization—niche areas, such as specific destinations or wellness—strong local presence, value stacking through concierge services and VIP treatment, a balanced combination of digital tools and personal touch, and strategic fee implementation are among the key factors driving member success, Galloway explained.

Envoyage’s grew 17 per cent globally over the past year, with the U.S. alone seeing a 53 per cent year-over-year jump, she said.

Just as lions lead not by size but by “their presence” and “strategy,” Envoyage is claiming territory by building an ecosystem that makes travel advisors future fit, Galloway said.

“Lions don’t celebrate yesterday’s hunt. They survey for tomorrow’s territory,” she told the room.  

For Envoyage, that means leaning into new content channels like NDC, sharpening value creation, and helping members thrive as independents while maintaining professional standards.

The host agency launched a new ticketing system in August and has made key investments in business support (by hiring success managers, for one) and system security.

Being part of the greater FCTG community also has its advantages as Envoyage can “pick and choose” programs and services for its members, Galloway said.

As far as sales go, luxury travel is driving Envoyage’s growth, but cruise and touring are also having a moment.  

“The inventory and opportunity for you to grow your businesses through both of these areas will continue to take hold,” Galloway said. “We're doubling growth in both of these areas.”

“AI isn’t coming for your job”

Transformation also requires the agility of a leopard — “the most adaptable animal in the ecosystem,” Galloway went on to say.

A leopard doesn’t just thrive and survive in its territories. “It sees opportunities that others miss – very similar to Envoyage,” she said.

One of the brand’s top priorities, currently, is the adoption of airline NDC content, which encompasses everything from ancillaries to dynamic packaging.

“Early adopters of NDC are already seeing 15 to 20 per cent higher margins through these bookings,” Galloway said.

Across the wider FCTG, the AI Centre of Excellence – introduced in 2023 to integrate AI into operations and customer interactions – is building tools to automate routine work.

“AI isn’t coming for your job,” Galloway assured. “It’s coming for all the parts you don’t want to do in your job, freeing you up to focus on the human elements that make all the difference.”

Predictive analytics, for example, are helping travel advisors identify upsell opportunities that “they’d never spot manually,” Galloway suggested.

“The key is to focus your human time on the high value and high-touch transactions,” she said.

“Clients expect Amazon-speed responses”

Creating and demonstrating value is another piece in the Envoyage pie.

“Clients don't pay for bookings anymore – they pay for outcomes,” Galloway said. “They pay for experiences and peace of mind. Your value isn't in what you book – it's what you enable.”

Commodity bookings have “zero margin and high competition,” she said, whereas travel fuelled by experience and design commands 30 to 50 per cent higher in fees and margins.  

At the same time, the industry faces credential disruption as social media influencers and bloggers enter the market without any professional standards.

This is creating risks for clients and the industry’s reputation, underscoring the need to uphold credentials, Galloway said.

“The reality is that influencers with 100,000 followers are now becoming travel advisors overnight,” she said. “Clients can't distinguish between Instagram inspiration and professional expertise…This is an opportunity for all of us to stand up around those credentials.”

The future of travel is about velocity, Galloway implied, noting that clients increasingly want near-instant – “Amazon-speed” – responses.

Speed, she said, can sometimes outweigh expertise in winning business.

“The agent who responds in five minutes wins over the expert who responds in five hours,” she said.

The need for speed—and the role of AI in accelerating processes—was later reinforced in a keynote by James Kavanagh, FCTG's global CEO of leisure.

“AI is not optional,” he told attendees, suggesting that everyone’s businesses “will look significantly different” in about five years’ time. “AI is about how fast you are going to move.”

Think like an elephant, move like a cheetah

As for Envoyage’s future, Galloway drew on the symbolism of elephants and cheetahs.

“Elephants have the best memory in the ecosystem,” she said. “For Envoyage, it means we’ll never forget our promise to unlock limitless possibilities for every journey.”

The cheetah, meanwhile, underscores the importance of speed in an era when travellers make decisions in micro-moments.

“Cheetahs don’t gradually speed up,” she said. “They explode into the future — which is our goal at Envoyage. To go fast and at speed.”

Messages like that struck a chord with Adam Taylor, a Halifax-based travel advisor and founder of Altitude Travel.

He described Envoyage’s Worldwide conference as an energizing way to start the year.

“The atmosphere has been incredible,” he told PAX. “This is what we need once a year — a reset. I’ve had my IV dose of vitamins, and I’m ready to hit the ground running.”

Envoyage hosted its annual awards ceremony, the “Envys,” during its Worldwide conference. Which Canadians advisors took home trophies – and how did they achieve success? Click here to read PAX’s exclusive coverage!

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