Golden Compass Tours to Host European Travel Forums across Australia and New Zealand

Educational travel Operator Golden Compass is hosting the series of morning tea Travel Forums in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland from 27 November until 14 December, between 10am and 1pm. Guest speakers include social historian Dr Jone Gaillard, European Program Leader Louise Shave and former Assistant Director of the University of Auckland George Dibley.

Golden Compass CEO Mark Goodwin BA (Hons)(Lon), A.K.C, F.Inst.T.T., will be travelling from the UK to host each event.

Mark has been in the travel profession for over 30 years, holding positions including Director of Operations with SAGA Holidays, Commercial Director with Rank Education, Director of Operations with the Travel Organisation and for the last 18 years as President and CEO of Golden Compass.

Mark is a double Hons graduate from Kings College London in Modern Languages – French and German, an Associate of Kings College (Divinity) and a Fellow of the Institute of Travel & Tourism as well as a past Member of the Institute of Directors.

Dr Jone Gaillard has a degree in Politics and Social Science from the University of Florence, a postgraduate diploma in Politics from the Centre of European Studies, Nancy (France), an MA and a PhD from Melbourne universities.

Jone has taught Italian Language and Culture in Florence and as Affiliate Professor at the University of Northern Colorado and at La Trobe University in Melbourne, where she lives. Besides giving lectures at Universities and cultural Institutions both in Australia and overseas, she has published many scholarly articles mostly related to Italian social history and literature.

Jone is also the author of a book of fiction as well as short stories published in Italy and in the U.S.A. Her doctoral thesis on opera librettos has also been published in the U.S.A.

Louise Shave is a graduate from the University of Auckland in Languages, History and Music and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching.

The extensive time Louise has recently spent living in both France and Ireland has given her an in-depth knowledge of those particular countries and she is a fluent French speaker. For the past 14 years, Louise has led many outbound programmes, especially in Europe, the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Ireland. She is in much demand as a guest speaker.

For 6 years, Louise and her husband explored the waterways of Europe on their 20 metre converted Dutch Barge. Not content with river travel, they also sailed a 10 metre boat across the Irish Sea and then back to England. Three years were spent in Ireland on the canals and rivers, with numerous adventures, followed by more time around the coast and in the English waterways.

George Dibley has been involved in educational travel for more than 20 years, initially as a part of his work in adult education at the University of Auckland where he was Assistant Director.

George worked for an educational travel company planning programs and leading groups of North Americans visiting Australia and New Zealand and leading groups to various European destinations. Over the years he has led groups in Italy, the Adriatic, Hungary, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

George has a special interest in music and has led many special interest opera tours to various European destinations. His broader interests include art and architecture. With a daughter and granddaughter in Norway he has become a regular visitor to Scandinavia.

"The forums will give the active mature traveller an opportunity to learn something different about the destinations on our British and European programs, something they may not experience with a mass market operator. For example, where else will you be able to learn about the history of Italian opera from one of Australia's pre-eminent Italian social historians without having to enrol in a music history course?", says Golden Compass CEO Mark Goodwin.

Head of Australian and New Zealand Marketing for Golden Compass, Sean Burns, states, "investing in a European tour is an enormous emotional and financial commitment. We want to ensure that anyone considering one of our educational and cultural tours gets a real flavour of what they will experience while travelling. That way they can make an informed decision on whether one of our programs is the right choice for them. By attending a Travel Forum they will have a chance to meet Program Leaders and learn more about the countries they are thinking of travelling to. It's also a chance for them to get to know other travellers, after all, if you're taking a 4 week guided tour of France with a focus on French food and wine, you want to be sure that you'll get on with your travelling companions, many of whom become life-long friends."

The Travel Forums will cover a number of topics from the integration of the Eastern European States into the EU, the origin of opera in Italy and the break-up of the United Kingdom.

Full details of these complimentary forums can be found by visiting: www.goldencompasstours.com.au/events/morning-tea-travel-forums.

Golden Compass was founded in the UK 1995 by Mark and Caroline Goodwin and has been successfully operating for 18 years.

Golden Compass are now pleased to be able to offer their unique, fully guided UK and European small group educational travel programs directly to the Australian and New Zealand active mature adult, with all tours priced in Australian and New Zealand dollars.

Golden Compass is fully bonded in the UK by the Civil Aviation Authority and is also an Off-Shore Member of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA).