Founded in 1970, Goway Travel is now in its 55th year.
Whatever else was happening in the world between 1970 and today, Bruce Hodge was building a travel company. He was a young Australian trained as an economist, but that interest was overridden by a passion for travel. He moved from Australia to Canada and settled in Toronto. After working briefly as a tour guide in England he got the inspiration to start his own tour operation.
He started it as a one-man operation working out of his Toronto apartment. He worked in a peanut butter factory to support the company as it was getting off the ground.
Fifty-five years later Goway Travel has built itself steadily, incrementally, until it now offers its travel services in 115 countries and on every continent. Powered by a team of 600 team members, with offices in Toronto, Calgary, the Philippines and Sydney, Australia, Goway prides itself with being on the cutting edge of travel technology and planning expertise.
Fifty-five years is something to crow about no matter how you look at it, but Goway wants to crow extra hard because it had to stay inside during lockdown and sit out its milestone half-century anniversary in 2020. So this is celebration with a vengeance. And the best revenge against adversity is living well, right? So, hey…
55 for 55
To celebrate the 55-year anniversary, Goway Travel has launched a film contest and a film festival. The Goway Micro Film Festival, centered around a competition for the best 55-second film. The contest is open to North American travelers to submit “55-second social media-friendly travel videos,” according to Mitchell Fawcett, Goway’s vice president of marketing.
The object of the 55-second videos is to “share your most inspiring travel stories, captured on film,” Mitchell Fawcett calls the festival “a celebration of the storytelling medium… It’s more than a contest. There will be a distinguished panel of judges awarding on merit.”
The contest will launch in late February and will be open for submissions for “most of the year.” Some of the dates are not yet established, but the winner will selected in time for a showing in Toronto in September, a showing in Los Angeles and a virtual event.
There will be three top prizes awarded, gold, silver and bronze, as well as a Best in Destination prize for every continent. The grand prize is $20,000 in Goway travel credit. Fifty-five seconds of video could earn a $20,000 trip. It will for someone.
Goway Further
Goway is further celebrating the anniversary with a series of events, offerings and promotions. The dates will be filled in when the promotions are formally announced. But what is known now is that Goway is making its 55th anniversary an occasion for a rebranding of the company, with a new logo, a new website and new booking technology.
The 55th anniversary promotion will include a series of elite agent fam trips to five continents for 50 of the company’s top travel advisors. The dates will be announced.
The last major initiative of the anniversary promotion is a series of road shows, that will bring many of Goway’s best suppliers to meet with travel advisors in various cities. In spring, the road shows will take place in eight cities around Canada: Halifax, Ottawa, Oakville, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria. Then, in fall, there will be road shows in four major U.S. cities: Chicago, New York, Fort Lauderdale, and Los Angeles.
Goway Down the Long and Winding Road
The overriding point of the celebration is to shine light on what the company has built over 55 years. All historical paths lead back to Bruce Hodge, the founder of the company. He’s remarkably unassuming and modest in a way that only a truly accomplished person can be.
Mr. Hodge first came into the world in Nambucca Heads, New South Wales, Australia, known as “the last place they grow bananas” Down Under.
After moving to Toronto, he established Goway Travel with European Camping Tours for 18 to 30-somethings, Adventures in Australia, and Overland Expeditions across Asia and Africa. The company created a niche for itself offering Young Adult Adventures.
It started with the South Pacific, Bruce Hodge’s home base, then expanded to Asia as a stopover, but grew to some 26 countries, making one little conquest after another: China, Thailand, India, and Japan.
From there it expanded to Africa, then began to build its Latin America base, with programs to Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.
In recent years, Goway has been growing its destination roster in Europe, offering a wide range of trips throughout the continent, including trips to England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey and Greece.
Goway has grown steadily, consistently, year by year, decade by decade into an empire that has conquered the world, but it’s a benign one. And at the top still sits Bruce Hodge, as modest as ever.
Bruce’s wife also participates in the business, and Bruce has been bringing his son Adam and his daughter Bronwyn into the operations for years, so the family business is now well into its second generation.
New Marketing Push
Goway has always been a modest achiever, quietly building destinations and markets, becoming one of the top North American tour operators, but not making a lot of noise about it, characteristic of Bruce Hodge himself. But in early 2023, Goway brought in Mitchell Fawcett, a rising marketing star who had worked for five years with the Major Tom firm, to help with the 55-year rebranding and relaunching of the company.
Mr. Fawcett has been working with the company to create and roll out various upgrades for the company’s marketing operations. The rebranding includes a new logo, which is sleek, smooth and brings the company’s icon into the 21st century.
Goway’s publication Globetrotting was upgraded in late 2023 from what had essentially been a flyer to a high-quality slick paper travel publication that could stand on its own, independently of Goway as is sponsor. Here’s a link to a current digital copy of the publication.
One of the earliest initiatives of the 55th anniversary bouquet is a new website that was rolled out last summer. The new website was designed to be improved in multiple ways: a more intuitive user experience; a fresh new design; comprehensive travel guides; inspiring travel stories; and enhanced tools for travel advisors, such as a Passport to a Free FAM incentive, the GowayPro Travel Tales podcast, and an expanded GowayPro Travel Academy education program.
For information, call 800-387-8850, email info@goway.com or visit www.goway.com.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
