House of Travel recruits former Flight Centre boss David Coombes as chief executive

The new House of Travel chief executive David Coombes. Photo / Dean Purcell

Former Flight Centre boss David Coombes has been appointed House of Travel chief executive.

In a coup for House of Travel, the industry veteran will take over from May 14, replacing Bruce Parton.

Founder of House of Travel, Chris Paulsen, described Coombes as a highly respected and well-liked leader within the travel sector.

“David has shown unwavering passion for the travel industry over many decades, but his leadership and commitment particularly stood out, and benefitted the entire travel industry, during the global pandemic when on behalf of the travel industry he led negotiations with the Government,” Paulsen says.

“He has a proven track record as an exemplary leader and a deep understanding of the industry and we believe it is his leadership acumen and strong relationships that make him the ideal person.”

House of Travel, with nearly 60 stores, is the largest New Zealand-owned travel company and the largest privately owned retail travel company in Australasia. It had revenue of about $2 billion before the pandemic and since borders have reopened agents are enjoying some of their strongest sales.

The appointment will pit Coombes up against his former company of 23 years. He took redundancy last February when Flight Centre - listed in Australia - restructured its top roles.

Coombes told the Herald that there was ‘’respectful’' competition between travel agents in New Zealand.

“I expect that to continue.“

There were no hard feelings with his old firm which he said had set him up to be able to get the new role.

“I‘ve got great friends and great memories and the reality of a corporate organisation is restructures happen and sometimes you have a place in it.“

During the last 14 months he had “recharged his batteries”, spent time with his two high school-age children and studied for a directors qualification.

An Australian, he has made Auckland his home. He had considered working in a different industry but was delighted to be able to come back into the one where he had extensive knowledge, relationships, and would be able to hit the ground running.

The first House of Travel store opened in Timaru in January 1987 and remains in private hands with each store being in a 50/50 voting rights partnership with the corporate entity, House of Travel Holdings.

House of Travel takes a share of profit, charges for information technology, and other services and the stores contribute to a marketing pool.

The House of Travel Group includes retail, Orbit World Travel, HOT Product, HOT Holdings, Global Travel Network, Travel Managers Australia, Travel Advocates, Mix and Match, Hoot, and Discover Travel Christchurch.

While House of Travel had a different operating model than his former company, he had experience of working with independently owned broker businesses and said he was excited to be working with store owners who had more skin in the industry.

Coombes said the Kiwi appetite for travel hadn’t been affected by the worsening economy and bookings continued to be strong. The experience of not being able to travel overseas during border closures had strengthened Kiwis’ resolve to take the opportunity to take overseas breaks when they could and costs of travelling overseas were starting to come down.

Tanya Horo, who is Lucy in the House of Travel marketing campaign.

While his former company has the Captain for branding, House of Travel has “Lucy’' (played by Tanya Horo) as a long-standing brand and marketing figure. Coombes said Lucy was a powerful way of building the connection between a customer and a travel consultant.

“I can’t tell you how pumped I am to be coming back into an industry that I am so passionate about,” Coombes said.

“Through Covid, consumers saw first-hand the value travel agents and a trusted brand provide - it’s an exciting time to be in travel.“

At Flight Centre he worked in numerous roles across three countries, starting as a novice retail consultant in Brisbane and culminating in his New Zealand role.

“All of his hard work has led to Flight Centre NZ emerging strongly from the challenges of Covid, trusted and respected by its people, the industry and customers alike,” the company said last February.

Last year he described his “amazing” ride at Flight Centre.

“I almost didn’t pass the recruitment process as a university dropout making my living as a bouncer. At that time, I could never have imagined that I would have the opportunities that I have.”

Coombes and other travel firm leaders lobbied government ministers to have a pandemic travel agent incentive scheme broadened and provided information on how the industry could help with re-opening borders

Parton announced last month he was leaving the business in mid-May after three and a half years in the role, reportedly to start as chief executive at aluminium can manufacturer Recorp, backed by a former boss of his at Air NZ, Rob Fyfe.

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.