Mary Rossi Travel | Our Story So Far

Mary Rossi Travel | Our Story So Far

By Claudia Rossi Hudson

Introduction

Mary Rossi Travel celebrated it’s 50 year anniversary in 2020! This is our story. It is the story of a wonderful industry and a remarkable woman, Mary Rossi O.B.E., my mother, who built an iconic business while raising our large family of ten children who also shaped the business.

Background

Although by tradition we consider 1970 to be the year that Mary Rossi Travel was founded the story really begins years before when my mother (b. 1925) was a child growing up in Sydney but with her head often turned to what was going on everywhere else in the world.

Mum whizzed through school skipping whole years along the way and going to university when she was only 15. She graduated with an Arts degree with Honours in History and English when she was 18. She worked as a researcher to a politician and later for what is now the Department of Trade. She lived in outback Queensland as a jillaroo for a few months, was engaged several times and was plotting the big overseas trip when she met Dad in 1947. Fortunately, my father’s pleading telegrams convinced her to get off the ship in Adelaide and return to Sydney where they were married.

It was to be another 11 years before Mum would make that trip to Europe. In the meantime Mum and Dad had the first six of their ten children. In addition, Mum had a very successful television career being one of the first woman to have her own TV show in Australia – A Woman’s World with Mary Rossi.

The weekly national daytime show featured Mary Rossi interviewing interesting people from all around the world on current affairs. Australian women admired her combination of on-screen warmth and professionalism and she was a great example to a whole generation of women (including her own daughters) of how one could have a career and continue to have a happy marriage and a growing family.

But Mum was still yearning for that overseas trip and in 1959 she managed to find a babysitter for their six littlies and abandoned us for 12 weeks to travel around the world on a business trip with Dad. They left on the newest airplane – the Super Constellation – and traveled to India, Europe and the US.

Mary Rossi Travel — Mary Rossi - Woman's World

Rossi Family in Milan Jan 62 — Rossi Family-Milan Jan 62

In 1965 when the family had grown to eight children we all embarked on a trip to Europe for the best part of a year to live in Italy and connect with my father’s Italian heritage – still strong after three generations in Australia. This was the trip that truly qualified Mum as the superb logistics organiser that she became. We left Sydney in five different deployments governed by school terms, exams and Dad’s business commitments. We traveled by ship and some by plane, meeting up in Northern England, traveled around Europe in a VW combi van, settled in Florence where some of us went to school or university and then returned to Australia in five different dispatches.

Some of us sailed home on the brand new stylish Italian Lloyd Triestino ship – the Guglielmo Marconi – sister ship to the Galileo.

Mum came home to more TV work and babies number nine and ten in quick succession.

The early years

And then in 1969 Mum was approached by the Lloyd Triestino owners’ representative in Australia – Captain Moscatelli – to see if she would agree to lead a tour to Europe visiting places of significance to Christians. Mum said yes provided that the family could come…

And so the business began. Paxtons Travel in the city packaged the tour. A big glossy brochure was produced and the tour was promoted throughout 1970. The first tour was 15 weeks fully inclusive of all meals – ship over via the Panama Canal and back via the Suez – and a 6 week coach tour from Lisbon to London via Rome – less than $14 a day!

The tour was promoted extensively throughout 1970. Mum made a big commitment in time to ensure that the tour received as much exposure as possible. Even the family got involved, driving Mum to speaking engagements all over NSW and pinning up posters in church halls.

The 1971 Catholic World Exploration Tour was an outstanding success with over 300 people travelling on the first tour. As well as the major European highlights such as Madrid, Paris and London they also visited Lourdes and we organised a Papal Audience in Rome.

The 1972 tour was being advertised before the first one had even returned and by 1973 we were running 2 tours a year. By this time I was working in the business with Mum, having taken leave of absence from my Science degree at Sydney University. I completed all the airfare and travel agency training that was available at that time.

In 1972 we started a program which we named “In the Steps of the Master” which was an air tour from Australia to the Holy Land (Israel) via India and Thailand. I escorted the 2nd tour which was advertised as Christmas in Bethlehem. I was 19 at the time.

In Israel we were accompanied by an acclaimed archaeologist who lived in Jerusalem. He was a great character and on his days off he took us on walks to hidden monasteries in oases in Wadi Rum on the way to Jericho – not far from where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. I loved my three weeks away on this tour and what I learned about my fellow travellers, the fate of a city that is sacred to three powerful religions and how relatively few Christians there actually are between Australia and Europe!

We continued to send groups to Israel for many years on behalf of many religious communities in Australia. I recall Reverend Bush taking one trip, the Rector of St James took another as well as the Ukrainians and even the Bahais. However, the political situation in the Middle East was always volatile so eventually we focused our attention elsewhere.

In our office at Paxtons in 90 Pitt Street Sydney, Mum enjoyed the planning and organisation of the tours – specifically with the quality and location of the hotels, the meals and the pace of the tour. Mum became one of the first female directors of a business in the travel industry.

It was not practical for her to personally escort every tour we planned but Mum was adept at getting the right people to do the job. A rich source of escorts was Mum’s friends and her own children. All ten of us have had the pleasure of escorting group tours to destinations as diverse as Europe, Israel, Jordan, China, India, Australia, New Guinea and Egypt.

Right from the beginning travellers who had been on our trips began to ask us for help in arranging their private travel. For many of our travellers on these early tours it was their first time out of Australia. They enjoyed the experience so much they wanted to travel on shorter trips – usually closer to home – like Asia and the US. Our reputation for planning family trips was also growing.

In the 1970s Jumbo jets were new to Australia and air travel seemed to be affordable for so many more people.

We marketed our services as Mary Rossi at Paxtons or Mary Rossi Tours. Our bright green wallets went very well with our trendy foil wall paper – shown here with Captain Moscatelli. Our filing cabinets were green, our logo was green, our chairs were green. (We painted the vinyl seat covers ourselves with shoe polish)

Our bright green colour scheme

The office with trendy foil wallpaper!

The Holy Year World Air Tour

The Northern Territory is different to Rome!

Leo Schofield's escorted tours

Musica Viva European Tour

1975 was going to be a big year for us. It was Holy Year and the Vatican was exhorting all their flock to come to Rome to pay their respects. I was despatched to the Vatican to study for a week on all the things that pilgrims were meant to do like visiting each of the four main basilicas or attending special ceremonies in St Peters. We sent several groups to Rome over that year by air and sea.

One group in particular presented us with a number of challenges.

We were asked by a priest, who should definitely be our second Australian saint, to organise a group tour to Rome for 40 Aborigines from his Mission in the Northern Territory. Fr O’Leary’s charges had never seen a set of traffic lights or ridden on an escalator and we sent them to the Holy Land via Bombay and on to Rome. It took us 6 months to bring together all the documentation to satisfy the Dept of Immigration for their passports. Birth certificates were rather hard to come by when you are born in a dry creek bed a thousand miles from anywhere.

Their first stop was Bombay. Unfortunately, they were on board the Air France jumbo jet that caught fire on take-off at Bombay airport. The take-off was aborted just prior to lift off and the passengers were evacuated down the slides off the jumbo jet’s wings and had to run for their lives. The aircraft burnt to the ground. No one was injured in our group but they lost everything – all their luggage, their shoes and those precious passports. By the time we heard about it on the evening news our agents in India had already organised a hotel for them, obtained cash and travellers cheques from the airline, taken them all shopping to clothe them for the rest of the journey and negotiated with Australian High Commission in New Delhi to replace those passports within 48 hours. It was a great lesson for us in ensuring we chose the right agents to work with in each destination.

Apart from raging inflation, one of the major economic events of the 1970s was the World Oil Crisis which caused to cost of fuel to skyrocket. Shipping companies all over the world were badly affected and by 1977, Lloyd Triestino had withdrawn its passenger liners from the Australian run as did most other liners including Chandris, Flotta Lauro and most of the P&O on line voyages to Europe. It was air or nothing if you wanted to get to Europe.

By this time, Mary Rossi had identified a growing need in the increasingly sophisticated Australian traveller. Interest in food and wine was become trendy – Margaret Fulton’s cook book was no longer the only cook book on the shelves.

We began to organise trips to Europe that visited centres of food and wine and to attend cooking classes in famous schools.

Leo Schofield escorted tours for us targeting travellers that wouldn’t normally travel on a group tour. The groups size was kept to less than 18 and hotel accommodation was the best. They stayed at the Hassler in Rome, The Ritz in Paris and of course Villa D’este in Lake Como enjoying cooking lessons and demonstrations designed only for them.

This was the start of many years of designing special interest tours – and not just food and wine. We designed and organised tours for Musica Viva, Playhouse tours with Stuart Wagstaff, skiing in France; Margaret Fulton herself, and the Art Gallery Society to Greece and Egypt to name a few.

Another first for Mary Rossi Travel was the introduction of tours to China. Mum’s friendship with Margaret and Gough Whitlam was instrumental in allowing us to be the first tour operator to take Australian tourists to China in the late 70s and early 80s.

The 1980s was the decade that saw Mary Rossi Travel develop into what it looks like today. We said goodbye to Paxtons Travel and we moved up Pitt Street to airy offices on the 14^th floor of the CML building on the corner of Martin Place. Vogue Living announced it as the most stylish offices in Australia – and not a hint of green to be found.

We were one of the first travel agencies to put an airline computer terminal in our office. This was before the advent of the internet or email. Fax machines were not even available in Australia.

Several Rossi “girls” were involved in the business at this time. Sally Rossi was the manager and a highly competent travel consultant during this period. Catherine and I were juggling young families and work commitments and Danielle was consulting as well.

World Playhouse Tour

Margaret Fulton Italian Cooking Tour

Art Gallery of NSW Tour

First to take tourists to China

Vogue Living's Most Stylish Offices

Early computer terminal

We continued to do our special interest tours but it was only a small part of the business which was now dominated by individual travel for business and leisure.

By now Mum had developed a real passion for fine hotels and we actively sought out those special properties that were charming and reflected the local ambience. Mum maintained active friendships with the owners and representatives of some wonderful grand hotels as well. This page from Mum’s photo album in the 80s shows warm personal shots with Caroline Hunt – owner of the Mansion on Turtle creek in Dallas amongst others and founder of Rosewood Hotels; Carmen Wirth – the then owner of the Hassler Hotel Roma and our favourite Umbrian villa that she restored -Borgo Bastia Creti; and lifelong friend Jean Salvatore lived at the Villa D’Este.

We started a new division of the company that represented hotels and products such as the Phoenician, the Seiyo Ginza, Rosewood Hotels, 47 Park Street London, Butterfield and Robinson Walking and Cycling Tours, Sea Cloud Cruises and eventually we came to represent all of the Relais & Chateaux group. My sister Cathy Rossi Harris was our highly effective Marketing Manager and we successfully raised the profiles of these products amongst Australian travellers.

Over the many years that we held Relais & Chateaux in our portfolio we made a point of visiting as many of these exquisite small hotels throughout France and Europe and exploring the surrounding countryside. This enhanced our reputation for knowing how to get off the beaten track and out of the cities and we still work hard at it today.

Very much a family business

A Taste of Italy

Great friendships with international hotliers

Hotels we represented

First hand knowledge

My favourite way of getting off the beaten track at the time was through cycling tours. Travellers no longer wanted to be passive onlookers from coach windows. They were active at home and they wanted to be active on holidays as well. We did our first bike tour (with Butterfield & Robinson) in 1988 and Roger and I still weave them into our travels today.

1000s of Australians now go on regular walking, trekking and cycling trips every year – including Hidden Italy self-guided walks in Italy which started life as Get Lost in Tuscany in the 1990s.

In 1987 we moved the office to 65 Berry Street in North Sydney where we stayed for the next 27 years. By this time every consultant had a computer on his or her desk. Qantas asked us to work with them designing software that assisted consultants. Our office won an IT industry prize for the best office automation of the year.

By the 1990’s ships were back doing short duration cruises and we worked with many of them. We became the representative office in Australia for Swan Hellenic Cruises and through them we introduced a whole new generation of Australian travellers to fine cruising with a cultural focus.

In 1992 Mum was awarded the French Government Medaille D’Or for services to French Tourism. In more recent times, continuing the tradition, I have been a member of the International Advisory Council for French Tourism and was awarded the Medaille D’Or in 2013.

My sister Mary Anne became the manager in the early 90’s and life in the office was busy but fun and we continued to be recognised with various awards including the Courvoisier Book of the Best.

Travel agent and regular recognition in our industry association awards. I went back to university and completed my MBA focusing on services marketing. From my studies there we developed a sophisticated client database that enabled us to identify and communicate with our regular customers with a clearer understanding of the way they like to travel. This database and its structure was still being used in the business twenty years later.

Alaska Tour

Swan Hellenic's representative

Winners of Medaille D'Or for services to French Tourism

Mary Anne Rossi ran the business in the early 90's

A "Dynamic Small Busines"

Our offices

In the late 1990s Mrs Rossi and the board explored ways for her to exit the business and it was finally decided to sell the business in 2000. For the previous six years I had been working in financial services pursuing a new career. Several bids were received from external parties to buy Mary Rossi Travel but it was the competitive offer from me and Roger Hudson (my husband) that was accepted by Mum and Dad. They were delighted that the business would stay in the family and I took over in August 2000.

There were challenges ahead and many people told me that the internet would destroy our business. Instead we embraced it and launched our first website in 2001. Within a year of coming on board every consultant in the business had access to the internet from their own computer (instead of just one at the front of the office) and they had their own email address. This was really cutting edge in the early 2000s.

Less predictable were the challenges that September 11, 2001 brought to the travel industry. No one wanted to leave home. Bali bombings, SARS, swine flu were all hurdles that our tight team were able to overcome with the support of our loyal customers. By 2007 the economy and confidence were booming again only to be undone by the GFC. We coped!

Our focus during this period was the luxury end of the market which required additional training and an understanding of what affluent travellers valued. We already knew it wasn’t glitz and glamour. We sought out experiences and comfort and hassle free travel. We recognised the joys of cruising and active outdoor pursuits like walking tours and river cruising. Travel with family and friends was back on the agenda. We have been a finalist and five times winner of the Luxury Travel Magazine Gold List Best Luxury Travel Agent for the past nine years.

In 2004 we were invited to be the inaugural Australian/New Zealand members of Virtuoso. This is a worldwide association of luxury travel agents and includes a network luxury hotels, lodges, cruise companies and destination specialist tour companies with insider access throughout the globe.

Towards the end of 2010 Mary Rossi Travel acquired the business of Intertravel. This was a smaller business located in Lindfield on Sydney’s North Shore about 15 minutes’ drive from our then North Sydney office. Trading as Mary Rossi Travel Lindfield commenced on 2^nd January 2011. The clients and staff of both offices embraced the changes involved in this merging of two cultures.

As Mary Rossi Travel continued to grow, we ran out of space in both our offices. In 2014 we moved our North Sydney office one suburb away to Neutral Bay. In early 2020, the impact of the global pandemic hit the travel industry hard. The decision was taken to temporarily close our Lindfield office and relocate staff to Neutral Bay.

May, 2021 marks the end of an era with the passing of Mrs Rossi aged 95. Mary Rossi Travel continues to this day to uphold the importance of integrity and the joy human connection that Mrs Rossi so embodied. Her legacy lives on.

In July 2021 I decided it was time to retire and sold the business to long time industry colleagues Sharyn Kitchener and Penny Spencer, co-owners of Mosman Travel. I shall remain in an ambassadorial role with Mary Rossi Travel.

2022 has dawned with a much brighter outlook and as a result of the rapid resumption of travel by our clients, we have opened a new Lindfield office as well as an office in the heart of Mosman.

We look forward to sharing our future with you.

Inaugural Aust/NZ Virtuoso members

Our Lindfield office

The Mary Rossi Travel Team 2015

Our Neutral Bay office

Winner Best Luxury Travel Agent

Luxury Travel Magazine award winners