About the Australian Travel Company: What is the Australian Travel Company? Where: Who: Contact: Senior Management:

Senior Management
Contact Us:

What is the Australian Travel Company and what services do we offer?
 In a nutshell: we provide and maintain a specialist online SOCIAL MEDIA web site that incorporates “user generated content” to provide a comprehensive travel and tourism services directory (portal) specifically for UK travellers to Australia, enabling you to contact and book your travel arrangements DIRECT (‘DIY’) with Australian travel and tourism operators.

We are a UK based company specifically for UK users. We are NOT a travel agency NOR are we a tour operator. We also DO NOT sell travel services (including airline seats) direct.

Not only do you save - in most cases - quite a considerable amount of money by buying direct from the owner or principal thus avoiding paying commission, you generally only pay when you arrive in Australia (accommodation in particular) and pay in Australian dollars converted at the bank buying rate of the day to UK pounds. Result = no currency surcharges as are often applied when buying through a tour operator in the UK. You also usually have access to the most up to date ‘last minute’ special rates (if applicable) that are offered by the principal.

However, if you do NOT have the time - or need expert guidance in order to research and book your itinerary for Australia/NZ, there are a number of VERY GOOD specialist travel operators in the UK that can tailor make your itinerary for you. These specialist operators generally provide superb service and EXCELLENT PRICES if you require someone to organise your trip for you. A list of Operators for Australia-NZ can be found here:

Where are we?
Based in Kent, UK,  just outside of London, the Australian Travel Company is fully owned and operated by experienced Australian travel professionals who have been in the travel and tourism business - specialising in Australia/NZ and the SW Pacific for over 30 years. We are an enormously knowledgeable & professional travel information services business specialising in travel information for Australia, NZ and the SW Pacific. That’s OUR SPECIALITY - providing up to date information for Australia and the SW Pacific to UK travellers.

Our Awards
We understand travel and travel distribution implicitly - particularly for Australia - as after all - we created the very first Australian online travel company back in 1995 specifically for promoting Australia to overseas visitors - and collected quite a few awards along the way ..!)

 We are also a hard working, vibrant and fun company - and we believe that you should have access to ALL travel information sources possible - as your holiday to Australia should be the most important (and fun!) thing in the world to you - and to us as well!

Important - Financial Security: booking direct with Hotels and Tourism Operators in Australia
In today’s fast paced online information age DIY travel arrangements have become the norm with booking your travel arrangements direct online. Of course, with most major airlines to Australia your monies are safe due to the sheer financial size of the airline. For land arrangements and tours in Australia, by booking and paying direct with Australian travel and tourism operators most of them only require payment on the day the service is utilized. In the case of accommodation, this is usually at check out with check in payment of usually a 1 - 3 night credit card deposit guarantee. Also, by using a credit card, most credit card companies (check with your bank or credit card company!) will refund your payment if you can prove that the service you paid for was not delivered or not substantially as advertised.

And last - but the most important - is to have VALID and comprehensive travel insurance to cover ALL of your travel arrangements. Be VERY careful here - as many policies do NOT cover all eventualities you could encounter. REMEMBER - READ THE SMALL PRINT!

So what’s our track record - and why should you consider using our directory for your trip to OZ?. For you to better decide on using our services - here’s our senior staff background and pedigree. The founders of The Australian Travel Company ( that’s us!) are Australian with over 50 years of combined expertise and skills within the global travel & tourism field, particularly in online travel and tourism sales to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

*The Australian Travel Company is a fully owned operating division of Travel Match Ltd (UK)

 The following abbreviated resumes provide an overview of Travel Match senior management

Graeme Archer
Director of Marketing

Born in Melbourne and a fanatical follower of the  Aussie Rules Collingwood Football Club (‘carn the pies!’) Graeme now resides with his wife Nikki and their ‘wonderdog’ in a converted 17th century barn amidst the orchards of rural Kent. Still a very proud Aussie (even with his new UK citizenship) Graeme is still deeply involved with the travel and tourism industry with his native Australia. Graeme found his way to the UK from Australia after selling his shareholding as co-founder of the multi award winning online Australian travel company (Travel Online) in 2002. Once settled in the UK he then founded Travel Match Ltd (and its associated operating entities, including the Australian Travel Company). As Managing Director of Travel Match, Graeme holds the overall responsibility for all Travel Match operating divisions including the Australian Travel Company and the UK Travel Company. Graeme's tourism career now spans over 30 continuous years, including extensive managerial online travel management experience. Graeme is a born and bred Aussie and knows his country - as well as the South Pacific Region - inside out!

Executive appointments held include senior managerial and executive positions in Australian Airlines (now Qantas) Manager Australia and NZ for United Airlines (Australia) Travel Division (United Vacations), Owner/Managing Director of Pacifica Holidays (Australia), Director of Marketing for Sheraton Mirage (Australia), and co-founder and Managing Director of Travel Online (Australia & UK) (1994-2001) Graeme has an extensive senior business background in both the UK and Australian travel & tourism markets, as well as being a global pioneer of specialised online travel services.


Clive Bishop
 Director of Sales

Clive is a seasoned, impeccably connected and credentialled UK travel industry professional who has been fortunate to travel and work in many parts of the world over the past 25 years in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality industries. Clive has also extensive experience in senior management positions in various UK and International companies as well as owning several business in the UK in the travel and tourism sectors.

In more recent years Clive has worked closely with many international governments and organisations on the development of their tourism proposal for the UK / EU market places, with an integral part of that being the social media interaction in both the B2C & B2B markets and the development of SME / “grass roots” companies that would not normally have a forum for their products, that would be suitable for the travelling public.

Clive brings an exciting new presence and many years of traditional experience and contacts to the re-launch of  the Australian Travel Company’s new and fast growing social media travel platform.


Tony Gurnick
 Development Manager

Tony’s career in IT spans over 24 years. He is an experienced and senior project developer with an extensive background both with the Internet as well as many other corresponding technologies, and also has a keen interest in learning and experiencing new technology disciplines. He has also worked in a variety of public facing industries including Special Events, Travel and Tourism, Advertising, Publishing and the Dairy industry. Tony founded and ran a very successful Internet Web Hosting and Web design business in NZ, before moving to the UK and London in April 2005 to take up the position of Director of Development with Travel Match Ltd.

Tony has extensive network and administration experience having scoped, designed and built various web projects including large intranets and web sites, as well as being an expert in the development of database driven web based applications. Tony also has experience with the following applications: Object Oriented PHP, CGI, MS SQL, mySQL, JavaScript,  J2EE, C, HTML, CSS, ASP.NET,  T-SQL, &  VBScript, as well as Cold Fusion, Dreamweaver, Homesite, Front Page, NOF and Photoshop.