Our Story
The original mobile travel agents
The original mobile travel agents.
For more than twenty years, our people have been at the heart of our business. We started as and continue to be a family business. And together with our team of over 400 experienced travel agents around the country, we continue to strive to be the best travel agency in Australia.
Questions? Contact Us.1990s
Revolutionising travel
In the 1990s we had an idea that would revolutionise how you experience travel. Today, we continue to be Australia’s leading team of mobile travel agents.
MTA – Mobile Travel Agents is born
The MTA-Mobile Travel Agents story began when owners Karen and Roy Merricks set out to make the careers and lives of travel professionals independent and more rewarding. Inspired by travel models in the United States, we launched MTA with our founding travel experts and began bringing experienced MTA-Mobile Travel Agents to our customers.
2000
2002
Created award winning virtual office
We launched our bespoke mid-office technology fondly referred to as ‘The VO’ (Virtual Office) providing our travel agents more independence and support. As Australia’s mobile travel agency pioneers, MTA gained industry recognition earning International Air Transport (IATA) accreditation and won a history full of awards and a global network of travel partners.
Nominated as an accredited Space Agent
We were honoured to be one of only eight agencies in Australia invited by Sir Richard Branson to join Virgin Galactic as an accredited space agent.
2006
2008
Invited to the Virtuoso luxury travel network
MTA were invited to be part of the exclusive Virtuoso luxury travel network, providing our customers access to the best travel experiences that can’t be accessed anywhere else. We grew our brand with the support of MTA brand ambassador, Jessica Watson OAM after she became the youngest person to ever sail single handed, non-stop and unassisted around the world.
Continued winning awards
Our accolades continued to grow as MTA became a finalist in the 2011 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards and repeated this every year until 2018 when we won Best Travel Broker Network.
2011
2014
Nominated for Travel Innovators Award
We were nominated for the prestigious Travel Innovators Award at the Travelscene Corporate Symposium in Bangkok.
Expanded consumer safety net
We launched MTA’s Zero Flight Risk™ – our cast-iron consumer guarantee, and the MTA Companion – our innovative handy travel app for clients.
We also entered our partnership with Helloworld Travel in 2016 when they invested in MTA and became 50 percent shareholders.
2015/16
2018
Launched MTA Professional Accreditation
Our commitment to invest in our people and help our advisors enhance their standing as travel industry professionals was realised when we launched our in-house online accreditation program, MTA Professional Plus – an intense program helping people achieve their dream and become a fully accredited ‘MTA Accredited Travel Professional’ agent.
MTA celebrates 20th Anniversary
20 years on and from humble beginnings we now employ over 50 head office staff and have over 430 Travel Advisors based across Australia. We celebrated our anniversary with a three day conference at Sanctuary Coast on the Gold Coast – with over 500 guests attending our Gala Dinner at MovieWorld.
2020
2023
MTA crowned Most Outstanding Mobile Advisor Network at NTIAs
MTA-Mobile Travel Agents was thrilled to be crowned ‘Most Outstanding Mobile Advisor Network’ at the 2023 National Travel Industry Awards (NTIAs). And in a double triumph MTA’s Wendy Brockbank was also recognised with the individual award of the ‘Most Outstanding Mobile Travel Advisor’.