BYOkids Wins National Business Award

e-Travel Blackboard:

BYOkids, a new online travel company specialising in family holidays, is celebrating its win as the country’s Best New Business at this year’s Australian Small Business Champion Awards.

The brainchild of Leah Squire, director of Queensland’s Tewantin Travel, a member of the Travellers Choice national retail network, BYOkids has in little more than a year established itself as the “family travel guru”.

Squire, a wife and mother of two boys, launched the site in 2006 as little more than a travel blog on her family’s journeys throughout Australia, Asia and the Pacific. But as the venture grew in popularity she began receiving requests to organise holidays.

BYOKIDS now contains an extensive range of information to help families research, plan and book fun holidays, including details on free activities, lists of restaurants offering kids entertainment, and advice on how parents can stay sane.

Squire said the company’s win recognized the quality of small businesses across the entire retail travel industry.

“At the same time it highlights the need for travel businesses to embrace Internet and email marketing techniques, and to focus on developing successful niche markets” she said. “Retail travel is no longer just about people sitting at desks – it is so much more.”