TORONTO — Several Canadian travel advisors were honoured with awards at Envoyage’s Worldwide 2025.

The just-wrapped flagship global event took place in Sun City, South Africa, bringing together industry partners and members from the group’s five core markets: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the U.S. More than 400 travel professionals took part this year.

Worldwide’s gala celebration, The Envys awards, recognize excellence in the Envoyage network, honouring the top-performing members and agencies from around the globe, celebrating their contributions to the industry.

This year, the winners included Christine Wilson, Envoyage, Canada, who was honoured as Destination or Product Specialist of the Year. Adam Taylor with Altitude Travel in Halifax won the Community Impact Award. And Envoyage’s Top Member of the Year – Canada went to Julie Smigadis with Travel Our World in Toronto.

Panel session with G Adventures’ Erin Rogers; Jenni Berg with TTC Tour Brands; Ray Hands, Intrepid

Worldwide 2025’s theme, ‘Beyond Every Journey,’ emphasized the brand’s focus on enabling and empowering travel advisors and agencies within the Envoyage network to build future-fit businesses and explore opportunities for growth and transformation.

Danielle Galloway, Global Managing Director of Luxury and Independent Brands at Flight Centre Travel Group, which includes Envoyage, set the tone with her keynote address, which compared the travel industry’s transformation to Africa’s Great Migration. “Standing still is the greatest danger of all,” said Galloway.

Envoyage’s network has skyrocketed from AUD$30 million in sales in 2018 to AUD$2.4 billion today, now encompassing over 3,500 members across five markets.

B.C.-based Envoyage member Sabine Bani said Worldwide 2025 was the best yet. “The combination of insightful, business-oriented speakers, an inspiring trade show, dazzling Envys, and, of course, the phenomenal destination made it an unforgettable experience. The energy was electric, and I walked away uplifted, with renewed vigour and real strategies to shape my business for the future. The inspiration and practical ideas, especially from the session on social media marketing, were simply invaluable.”

Bernardo Celorio of Travel Our World competes in Lions Lair

Highlights of this year’s event included AI and technology workshops, with Marketing Technologist, Kha Ly, presenting ideas for social media marketing leveraging AI recommendations. Envoyage’s Beacon platform helps members unlock data-driven growth and efficiency.

There was also a ‘Lions Lair’ pitch competition, with a shortlist of five Envoyage members from around the world pitching their business ideas to a panel of judges for their shot at taking home an investment of AUD$5,000.

Worldwide 2025 also included a Partner Showcase, and one-to-one meetings at Worldwide Connects. More than 100 industry partners across 50+ brands were in attendance.

THE INDEPENDENT REVOLUTION

Galloway expressed her appreciation and vision for the future of Envoyage: “We are deeply grateful to all the members and partners who attended Worldwide 2025. Not only do we love spending time with our community, their commitment and passion for their craft inspire us every day.”

She noted that around the world, there has been a steady increase of travel advisors opting for independence rather than traditional employment, and Envoyage is at the forefront of this transformation. The network allows advisors to retain a significant portion of commissions while benefiting from world-class technology, industry partner relationships, robust business support and a uniquely global community, emphasizing the brand’s message that ‘being independent doesn’t mean being alone.’

“Together, we are not just navigating change, we’re driving it forward. We are devoted to fostering an environment where our members are future-fit and thriving,” she said.

“The Worldwide theme, ‘Beyond Every Journey’ is a powerful call to our members to embrace innovation and leverage technology to fuel business growth. Every moment of Worldwide exemplified our collective goal to propel the travel industry towards a brighter, more innovative future, and we intend to carry that forward alongside our members around the world.”