Graham “Skroo” Turner and wife Jude at their hotel the “Spicers Balfour hotel”.
Source: News Limited
Travel tycoon Graham “Skroo” Turner is on course to become a billionaire.
He has come a long way since he and a couple of mates began running tours in second-hand London double-decker buses. Mr Turner, a trained veterinary surgeon, fell into the industry almost by accident. In 1973, he and two mates went looking for adventure but found a business opportunity they couldn’t ignore in the UK. They invested just over $1000 and ran trips to Europe and North Africa for young travellers and, by 1980, Top Deck Travel had a fleet of 80 buses.
Returning to Australia to set up Flight Centre in 1981, the astute entrepreneur has built a global business that keeps on growing.
The country’s largest travel agency, which he serves as chief executive, has enjoyed a record-breaking year, with pre-tax profit expected to be up 17 per cent on last year at $340 million. The company share price has doubled in the past 12 months.
The rapid rise has boosted Mr Turner’s 15 per cent stake to more than $650 million. He and wife Jude, who runs the pair’s eight luxury Spicers retreats, fly 12 places up the list this year, adding $330 million to reach $726 million in total estimated net wealth.
But Mr Turner, who grew up on an apple orchard near Stanthorpe in Queensland’s Granite Belt, isn’t one to crow about success however spectacular. “We’re reasonably happy overall with where we ended up,” he says in his refreshingly understated way.
“I think just generally things have improved a bit.”
Pressed on what stands out among the numerous highlights of the past 12 months, including Flight Centre surging into the ASX100, opening its 2500th store and the company value surpassing $4 billion, Mr Turner says: “There’s no real highlight I don’t think, at this stage.”
His modesty should not be taken as a lack of enthusiasm. When it comes to the future of the business, Mr Turner, 64, believes the sky is just the beginning. “We would like to double in the next six years in overall size,” he says of the company he floated in 1995. “Whether we can double in profit in the same time, you just don’t know. We see no reason why we can’t.
“We’ve certainly committed to growing our Asian markets China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai, in particular. (But) we’re not going to grow dramatically in those markets, 20 to 30 per cent a year perhaps. The potential really is in places like the UK, Canada and the States, as well as Australia.”
Australia, the UK and the US already account for 80 per cent of the total sales in the 11 countries where Flight Centre operates.
“We’re over 1 billion in the UK and we probably only have 3 or 4 per cent of the market. So if you want to get up to 10 per cent we’ve got a lot of potential to grow.”
Mr Turner says the “blended model” combining online with bricks and mortar stores for more complex transactions has served the company well through tough times, but can still be improved.
“It’s not just about online or offline. It’s making sure the customers can deal with us in the way they prefer to whether it’s online, offline, email, phone, whatever. “The typical sort of customer we have in leisure travel maybe makes a major trip once every two years. They aren’t familiar with a lot of the products on the net and they want advice from an expert.”
A keen supporter of bush heritage and conservation, Mr Turner believes the environment will be key to the future of Queensland tourism. And he says much-discussed plans to lure the Chinese middle-class here for a holiday must focus on the unique nature of the state.
“I think the main reason people will come to Queensland in the long term won’t be casinos, they’ll be able to have them anywhere, it will be what makes Queensland different from most other parts of the world,”
Mr Turner says. “They’ll want to come and see places where they’ll see native animals and things like the Great Barrier Reef.”
Known by his nickname “Skroo” bestowed upon him as a schoolboy after the Turner brand of screwdriver Mr Turner shows no signs of slowing down.
“I think one of the things is with a business like ours, let’s say we can double in six years, it will be a little bit more diversified and probably a bit more vertical too.
“So in five or six years time, assuming the board wants me here and I’m in good health, you’d be basically running a different company.”
The idea of retirement seems a long way off for the keen mountain bike rider, touch footy player and marathon runner (he and Jude completed the London Marathon for the eighth time in April).
“I think the oldest guy who did it was 101, so there are still plenty of opportunities for me.”
Sky"s the limit for Flight Centre boss as he sets growth trajectory
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