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The travel experience collective
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STORY
our Story
Get Lost Travel
Paul Beames founded Get Lost Travel Group in 2009, now one of Australia’s largest small group touring networks carrying 100,000 happy passengers a year across Australia. GLT is a multi-award-winning touring group, employing more than 100 tourism industry professionals. Paul is a passionate leader, serial entrepreneur, with 17 years contribution to tourism here in Australia and overseas. He represents a commitment to continuous growth, unique innovation and development of an eco-friendly, sustainable tourism industry. Awarded Len Taylor ATEC Award for Leadership in Tourism, and the 2017 gold winner of the prestigious RACV Young Achievers Award. Paul also served as Vice Chair of ATEC Victoria.
Paul Beames still serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Get Lost Travel (GLT) Group and reamains passionate about delivering unique, authentic touring experiences. The core business values of excellence in customer service, collaborative industry relationships, creating the best place to work and improving industry best practice, has seen GLT achieve many successes
A budding entrepreneur from an early age, Paul entered his first business venture with his uncle at just 19 years old, starting up ‘Swan Bay Boat Hire’ in the City of Geelong. Throughout his early 20’s, Paul invested time into his education, completing ‘Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) and Tourism & Recreation Management’ in 2004, and in 2006 his ‘Bachelor of Business & Bachelor of Arts, Tourism & Recreation Management’. In 2005 Paul earned a scholarship and spent six months studying in Canada. With a passion in Indigenous Culture he also studied ‘Tourism – Indigenous Education’ at Charles Darwin University.
After completing his studies Paul worked as a Tour Guide from 2005 to 2008 throughout Australia and in 14 different European countries. In 2008 whilst working in Darwin the young entrepreneur registered the business name ‘Get Lost Travel’ and the following year purchased his first tour company, Wildlife Tours Australia. A fledgling company with one mini-bus, one tour and next to no passengers, with a great deal of hard work, the business started to grow. The next eight years saw phenomenal business development;
2012 – Launched two new companies and brands – Café Bus Winery Tours and Melbourne Bus Hire & Bus Charters
2012 – Purchased key competitor Autopia Tours Pty. Ltd
2013 – Purchased a new depot in Williamstown North to accommodate the expanding businesses
2013 – Offered key existing team members/friends the chance to invest into GLT Pty Ltd with four of them now key partners and shareholders.
2014 – Launched new company and brand MTB Adventures (Mountain Biking Adventures)
2017 – Purchased key competitor Melbourne Boutique Tours (rebranded to Boutique by Autopia)
2017 – Victorian Tourism Awards, Gold Winner, in the category of Tour & Transport Operators
2017 – Australian Tourism Awards, Bronze Winner, in the category of Tour & Transport Operators
2018 – Launched new operations in New South Wales and Western Australia
2018 – Victorian Tourism Awards, Gold Winner, in the category of Tour & Transport Operators
2018 – Australian Tourism Awards, Bronze Winner, in the category of Tour & Transport Operators
2020 – Launched a new company Australian Bus Charters & Tailor Made Touring to provide transport solutions Australia wide
2020 – Launched Pallets with Purpose, a COVID initiative transforming the bus depot into a temporary furniture factory keeping staff engaged during hibernation
In eight years the GLT team have grown one small business into a multi-award winning organisation consisting of ten registered companies, 100+ local employees, over 30 different products and a fleet of 24 buses. The GLT Group are now one of Australia’s largest, small group touring networks carrying 100,000+ passengers a year throughout Victoria (VIC), New South Wales (NSW) South Australia (SA) Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA).
One of the hallmarks of Paul & teams success has been his ability to see an opportunity and take it, constantly launching new and exciting products to the market. GLT have created a one stop shop for Inbound Tour Operators and Wholesalers offering eight touring brands such as private boutique tours, small group adventures and large group charters, to cater for a wide range of domestic and international markets.
Purchase of Autopia Tours 2012
In 2012 Paul, Caitlin Sewell & Finlay Beames purchased competitor Autopia Tours and in five years grew the company from operating just three tour itineraries, to now over 20. These unique tours include three versions of the Great Ocean Road (Standard, Reverse & Sunset), to improve customer experience and combat the increase of visitors along the iconic route.
Craig Cooney (part owner of GLT and the brain child of some incredible new product) conceived: The Mornington Peninsula Food & Wine tour, which see’s passengers taste their way around an emerging wine region and gives another option to the Yarra Valley. In addition to this, the Lake Mountain Snow, Waterfalls & Chocolate Tour has been extremely successful with the Domestic Leisure and South East Asian markets giving them an affordable first-time snow experience.
MTB Adventures Created & Launched 2014
An adventure seeker himself, Paul & Ben Matthews believed there was opportunity to grow the adventure tourism market in Victoria, so in 2014 launched a new company and brand specialising in 1-day guided mountain biking tours along the GOR and in the You Yangs. Although this is a niche market, passenger numbers are doubling each year.
Throughout 2016/2017 Paul & Ben Matthews has been working with Niki Donaldson from Mt Buller to assist them boost visitation during low season when there is no snow. On top of the regular tours, MTB Adventures are also promoting and operating monthly trips to Mt Buller offering transportation as an option to people living in Melbourne who have their own equipment.
Paul has created a Strategic Marketing Plan for the organisation, investing $500,000 last year back into the international marketing and the promotion of Victoria. GLT bring huge diversity of quality, export ready products and unique experiences to the market, holding contractual agreements with over 35 major ITO’s and Wholesalers from 15 different countries.
Tradeshows, Expo’s & Trade Missions
Paul Beames and Caitlin Sewell spend a considerable amount of time travelling, promoting Victoria and the GLT suite of products to international buyers at various trade missions. In 2016/17 alone, GLT attended The European Product Workshop and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Exchange in London, Walkabout Japan (Tourism Australia Mission), Corroboree Asia, TTG Incontri Italy, VicBound, Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) and International Tourismus Borse (ITB) in Germany. This has seen an increase of 150% in the bookings from ITO’s and Wholesalers year on year.
Co-op Marketing Agreements
In June 2017 Paul & Team was an integral part of creating a Co-op Marketing Agreement between GAIBO (Garry Burns) and Zoo’s Victoria to invest in having someone on the ground in India and China to represent these companies and grow visitation to Victoria from these markets.
Product Packaging
GLT has built relationships with other tourism businesses through mutual product packaging where GLT promote their products as add on’s or upgrade packages. This includes companies such as Global Ballooning, Eureka Skydeck, Phillip Island Nature Parks (PINP), SeaLink and AAT Kings and is valued at over $750,000 + each year.
Product Famils
GLT have hosted numerous international industry famils, organised with Great Southern Touring Route (GSTR), Visit Victoria (VV) , Tourism WA (TWA) as well as numerous ATE Delegates showcasing regional Victoria, NSW & WA to key ITO’s.
Intrepid/Adventure Tours Australia (ATA) Partnership
In 2016 Autopia Tours singed a License Agreement with Intrepid Travel/ATA, which means some of Autopia products are now co-branded with Intrepid. This has increased the company’s distribution channels globally, and given GLT the opportunity to work amongst a larger collective of Intrepid partners offering tours throughout Australia.
Currently nothing exists within the tourism industry, colleges or universities, to educate those wishing to pursue a career in Tour Guiding, or for experienced guides to formalize their qualifications. This was something that had been on Paul’s mind for a few years and after consultation with major Australian tour operators and governing industry colleagues, a better understanding was gained of what is currently missing in this area and what expectations potential stakeholders would have, should he create a Training Institute.
The response was overwhelming positive, so Paul registered the company Get Lost Training Institute (GLTI) in June 2017 and set out to create a ‘Certificate 3 in Tour Guiding’. This qualification would include workshops on fatigue management, food handling & hygiene, indigenous culture, social & cultural sensitivity and sustainable work practices, among others. The course would operate twice a year, feeding into the various operator peak seasons around Australia.
The primary focus of the GLTI will be to provide training for companies within the tourism industry Australia wide, to develop suitable candidates to serve the growing needs of employment within the industry. The benefits through programs with the GLTI include standardized training, competencies and skills and knowledge held by Tour Guides.
Paul is currently working through the processes to have the GLTI made an approved training institute by the regulator governing body Australian Skills Quality Authority. The aim is to have the GLTI and Certificate 3 in Tour Guiding
BENEFITS TO THE INDUSTRY AND SUCCESS
Get Lost Travel
Carrying over 100,000 passengers each year, with 98% of them traveling into regional areas, the growth of GLT has already seen a significant positive impact on the Victorian visitor economy. Many of the GLT tours stay overnight in regional towns with passengers contributing to 6769 bed nights in 2016/17, equating to $500,000 revenue to regional accommodation providers.
Get Lost Travel has built strong relationships with over 20 regional tourism businesses such Maru Animal Wildlife Park, Iluka Restaurant in Apollo Bay, 12 Apostles Helicopters and Phillip Island Nature Parks. GLT spent $956k last year alone at these four businesses, making massive economic contributions to regional Victoria.
A key motivator for Paul in creating new tour itineraries is to grow regional tourism, as well as partner with other quality operators to enhance visitor experience. Some of the new product development include;
1 Day Werribee Zoo & Mansion Tour
Lake Mountain Snow, Waterfalls and Chocolates Tour
Free, cutting edge Audio Translation Application in 10 different languages for international guests
The inclusion of the Antarctic Journey (augmented reality) on our Phillip Island Tour
Mt Buller & You Yang’s Mountain Biking Tour
Bellarine Peninsula Tour
Bellarine Peninsula Tour
At an industry event, the operators of the Port Phillip Ferry spoke to Paul about struggling to break into the international market. Paul naturally wanting to help as well as be innovative, decided to access the viability of a Bellarine Peninsula product. After further consultation with the Marketing & Communications Officer at Tourism Greater Geelong & Bellarine, in May 2017 a trial day tour to the Bellarine Peninsula incorporating the Port Phillip Ferry was run. Local travel agents and Bellarine business owners trailed the tour with feedback provided afterwards. Paul registered the business name ‘Bellarine Peninsula Tours’ and the product is now a charter option which will become a regular scheduled product, under its own brand in 2018.
The Antarctic Journey on Phillip Island
Paul built on an existing collaborative partnership with PINP by agreeing to include a visit ‘Antarctic Journey’ on all of the GLT Phillip Island tours. This unique experience gives passengers the opportunity to take a virtual journey into the world of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. GLT pay the ticket price for each passenger and PINP support GLT with international marketing. A portion of the ticket price goes to supporting the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF’s), Southern Ocean projects.
Over the past eight years the team have developed unique and innovative touring experiences that are authentically Australian with a strong emphasis on wildlife, natural beauty and indigenous culture. We are always looking at ways to improve best practices, policies and procedures, not only within his organisation, but for the wider tourism industry.
The intensive ‘Guide Training Program & Workshops’ that he created for his own guides adhere to the highest international standards. Onboard digital feedback gives vital insight into passenger experience with a ‘Continuous Improvement Plan’ ensuring feedback is taken on board and visitor experience always improving. GLT have received 12 consumer voted awards in the last five years such as TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence and Golden Backpacks Awards.the
Paul and the team at Get Lost Travel Group are widely respected by business partners, employees and the broader tourism community for the collaborative and inclusive approach, ability to connect people and willingness to provide mentoring to small business owners and industry newcomers. These are some of the ways Paul contributes to developing the next generation of tourism leaders;
GLT Professional Development & Training Program
Paul recognises his people are his number one asset one of the core values he created when starting his business was to “provide a fun, friendly and positive workplace culture where people feel a sense of belonging and freedom to express their ideas, thoughts and feelings”. This program invests $50k each year into staff development.
Tourism Education
In 2016/17 Paul was a Guest Speaker at ‘Victoria University and ‘William Angliss as well as hosting tourism students from Victoria University at the depot, offering them an understanding of what is involved in being a major tour operator.
On a broader international level Paul initiated a relationship with NHTV University in the Netherlands in 2010 and has since hosted two to four Dutch tourism students each year.
A philanthropist at heart, at the age of 19, Paul became involved in charity work, organising events and supporting many causes he is passionate about. Some of the collaborative initiatives Paul has been involved in during 2016/17 are;
Koala Clancy Foundation is a non-profit organization set up to support the wild koalas of the Western Plains of Victoria. Last year he and another staff member did vegetation rehabilitation equivalent to 24 hours and took four university groups there to do conservation work. $1 from every You Yangs mountain biking tour is donated to this foundation which equated to more than $2,000 in 2016/17.
Hobsons Bay City Council Conservation Team were joined by Paul and 11 of his staff in June 2017 for a full day of volunteer work, planting over 600 seedling tubes in a local wetland in Williamstown.
Driver & Bus Contributions – Paul often volunteers in kind labor by donating a bus and driver to transport people for various events. This year he worked with Melbourne Aquarium’s Sea Life Trust on the Ocean Youth program and the You Yang’s Mountain Biking Club donating 24 hours of driver time and a bus to carry spectators of the Cressy Descent.
Gift Vouchers for Charity Events – This year Paul offered his support to other tourism operators such as Melbourne Museum and Sea Road Ferries by donating free tours for them to auction off at charity events they were hosting. Gift vouchers to Life Project Cambodia, Local Community Groups, Oxfam, Beyond Blue and the Cancer Council were donated, equating to nearly $5000 worth of tours per year.
With the goal of building relationships and connecting industry peers, each year Paul and the GLT team host around eight industry events including the annual GLT Christmas Party. This has become an institution with over 300 industry peers being transported to the depot and entertained with live music and beverages until the early hours. This is one of Paul’s ways to thank the industry for their support for another year.