Rising stars: xtravel co-owners Niki Davies, left, and Tori Keating PICTURE: NZ HERALD

It’s a pretty epic birthday present.

Queenstown business xtravel, which on November 1 celebrated its seventh birthday, has just won the Deloitte Fast 50 Regional Award for the ‘fastest-growing retail or consumer product’ for Southland and Otago.

The Fast 50 index recognises businesses which have shown significant growth over the past three years, determined by percentage revenue growth.

Of the regional award winners from across New Zealand, xtravel’s the only travel and tourism business to be recognised.

Launched by business partners Tori Keating and Niki Davies on November 1, 2016, the women wanted to better service Queenstown travellers from a ‘‘grassroots, home-grown platform that wasn’t a franchise which dictated where travellers should put their hard-earned money to meet national targets’’.

‘‘And, as women in business, we wanted to be in control of our destiny and be able to move nimbly as and when it was required, without having to ask permission,’’ Keating says.

To enter the Deloitte Fast 50, businesses need a revenue of $1 million or above in the 2021 financial year (FY21), submit independently-prepared financial statements for FY21 and FY23 and, if applicable, export revenue for the same years.

Keating says xtravel’s enjoyed a percentage growth of 318% during the period, making it a ‘‘strong contender’’ for the national awards
— which will be announced on November 23.

‘‘This recognition reflects our relentless commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, validating our dedication to excellence in a dynamic market.’’

The latest gong caps off a huge few years for the travel agency.

In August, for the second consecutive year, xtravel won ‘division of the year’ and gained a place in the top-10 of the ‘independent icon rankings’ at the Flight Centre Travel Group’s independent conference in Australia, while last year the company was named Silversea
Cruises’ ‘Travel Industry Heroes’ in recognition of the work they did through Covid to reimagine the travel industry, advocate for it,
communicate on its behalf and nurture the wider industry.

It followed shifting to focus solely on repatriation flights in 2020, initially co-chartering flights into NZ and Australia from South
America, before solo chartering 14 such flights in 2021, getting almost 1700 people to their respective home countries.

That work also netted xtravel the 2021 Queenstown Business Awards’ ‘Covid resilience and diversification’ award – this year, they’re up for ‘excellence in diversity and inclusion’ in the same awards, being announced at Walter Peak tonight.

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