Opinion
- Cairns makes the most of Sydney’s woes
  
  Last week, I spent a fair bit of time on damage limitation after a tip-off from Rick Schindler (the real one) that the Daily Telegraph was about to publish a knocking story alleging backpackers were fouling Sydney pavements while trying to sell their vehicles on the streets. Read more »
- Will new Fraser Island legislation make for a more viable industry?
  
  Director of Frasers on Rainbow hostel and 4WD Greg Zammit discusses the effects the new Fraser Island 4WD legislation will have on the industry. Read more »
- Admit it: 2009 was a year to forget
  
  Speaking to operators during Melbourne Expo last weekend, it struck me that things must be getting better – because people were finally prepared to admit how bad the back end of 2009 was. Read more »
- Time to get in the face(book) of independent travellers
  
  News that a survey of UK Facebook users has found most prefer to book travel online is the least surprising thing I’ve heard since I was told I had passed my Australian citizenship test with a score of 100 per cent. Read more »
- Exhibit A: Proof that backpacking has a public relations problem
  
  My good friend Peter McMahon sent me an interesting link this week. Read more »
- Backpacking and English language schools – a match made in heaven or hell?
  
  News that all GEOS English language schools in Australia have closed with debts in excess of A$10 million comes at an unfortunate time for backpacking, which has recently started cosying up to an industry which brought 160,000 young people to Australia in 2008. Read more »
- Beware a hungry media pack on the scent of a good story
  
  If proof were needed that backpacker vehicle rental companies are now well and truly in the spotlight, look no further than yesterday’s Northern Territory News, which carries a story about two travellers left stranded in the Outback when their Backpacker Campervan broke down, allegedly due to poor maintenance. Read more »
- Wicked Campers’ problems could be the start of a crackdown on backpacker car rental companies nationwide
  
  Wicked Campers is back in the news after claims in the national media that the majority of its Queensland fleet has been withdrawn over safety concerns. Wicked owner John Webb has refuted the claims, stating only around 50 of the company’s Queensland-registered vehicles have been voluntarily removed from service with 611 still on the road. Read more »
- New year’s resolutions for 2010
  
  As new year is the time for resolutions, I thought I’d take the liberty of making a few on behalf of the industry. Unlike my own (to stop swearing), I’m hoping the following will last beyond the first week back at work. Read more »
- Don’t let a good story get in the way of the facts
  
  We’ve been copping a bit of flak this week for our alleged negativity in reporting the deaths of four young travellers in Australia and the headline on our story about the latest International Visitor Survey, which focused on the decline in backpacker numbers rather than the increase in spend and length of stay. Read more »
- King’s Cross Car Market remembered…
  
  The world famous King’s Cross Car Market that operated since 1991 from the King’s Cross Car park is sadly no longer. The old car market was an institution, a place where backpackers would arrive with the most amazing array of Aussie automotive buckets you were ever likely to see in one place. Good cars, cheap cars, outrageously over-priced cars, cars full of camping gear and outdoor gadgetry, cars on their last legs, cars that entered and never left, vans, bloody Kombi Vans, 4×4’s, and lots of Ford Falcon Stationwagons.
  
  Peter Burke, Travellers Auto Barn. Read more >>
- Losing $62 million in revenue could be considered careless
  
  Okay, it’s been a tough year, but it could have been worse. Imagine if you ran a business where the average yield was up 12 per cent to $6171, but the number of customers you’d welcomed through your doors had fallen by 10,000. Imagine seeing nearly $62 million in potential revenue go up in smoke. Read more »

Eight GEOS language schools go into voluntary administration leaving thousands of foreign students in the lurch

Australia’s English language teaching industry suffered a massive blow on Friday with news that eight schools operated by the GEOS group had gone into voluntary administration, leaving up to 2300 foreign students and nearly 400 staff in the lurch.

Ernst and Young have been appointed administrators to nine companies operating the schools in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Cairns.

In a statement, administrators Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins said: “The financial position of the companies is such that the directors appointed voluntary administrators. School operations have been temporarily suspended while the financial situation of the companies and ability to fund future operations of the schools is assessed over the next few days.”

Staff at the Manly campus in Sydney heard the news around 4pm on Friday and were told they had one hour to collect their belongings. A notice on the front door advised callers the school was closed until further notice.

The English language sector association, English Australia (EA), is working closely with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), Department of Immigration And Citizenship (DIAC) and the administrators to ensure that the GEOS students are taken care of.

“EA recently successfully (and quickly) placed all of the English language students displaced by the Meridian closure and we will be working to ensure that GEOS students experience the minimum disruption to their studies as possible. All the GEOS colleges were members of the EA Tuition Assurance Scheme and the students will be found places in courses with other EA member colleges as quickly as possible,” said EA executive director Sue Blundell.

The news is also a blow to the backpacking sector. It has been trying to forge closer links with the english language industry, which attracted 160,000 students to the country in 2008.

A decision on GEOS’s future should be known by close of business today.

By Martin Lane · February 1st, 2010 at 8:34 am