Student Education Travel Organisation (SETO) Latest News

SETO Announces Platinum Partner - Go Insurance

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 05:04:56 GMT

We are delighted to announce our new Platinum Partner - Go Insurance.

Go Insurance have partnered with many of our members already which is testament to their fit within the Student Educational Travel Community. Their hands-on approach and enthusiasm for group travel makes them an ideal partner for SETO.

This marks a new chapter for SETO and we are looking forward to working with Go Insurance over the coming months to ensure that we can bring appropriate offerings to our members.

Go Insurance

At Go Insurance, we believe travel is one of life’s greatest experiences—and it deserves to be protected. As an Australian-owned and operated specialist travel insurance provider, we are committed to offering tailored, comprehensive cover that meets the unique needs of every traveller.

Our approach is built on flexibility, transparency, and customer-first service. We empower travellers with bespoke policies, ensuring they only pay for the cover they need—nothing more, nothing less. Whether it’s a student heading overseas for an educational exchange, a group embarking on an immersive study tour, or an individual exploring new cultures, we provide travel insurance that offers peace of mind and protection.

At the heart of Go Insurance is a passion for responsible and sustainable travel. Our commitment to fairness, innovation, and doing the right thing aligns closely with SETO’s mission, and we are proud to support a community that values the transformative power of travel.

With decades of industry experience, an in-house claims team, and a dedication to exceptional customer service, we make travel insurance simple, reliable, and tailored to real-world needs. We are excited to join the SETO community and look forward to working together to ensure travel remains safe, accessible, and enriching for generations to come.

In the words of Mark Fuller, Go Insurance CEO:

"I’m really pleased to see Go Insurance joining SETO as a Platinum Partner. Travel has always been a huge part of my life, and I know firsthand the impact it can have—broadening horizons, creating opportunities, and shaping the way we see the world. But with that comes a responsibility to ensure travel remains safe, accessible, and sustainable for future generations.

At Go Insurance, we’ve always been passionate about empowering travellers to explore with confidence, and SETO’s commitment to responsible and educational travel really resonates with us. I’m excited for the opportunities this partnership will bring and look forward to working with the SETO community to make a meaningful impact."

Go Insurance

The SETO board remains focused on the mission - Strategy Day 2022

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 03:36:20 GMT

Student Education Travel Organisation Strategy Day 7th October 2022

On Friday 7th October the SETO Board held their inaugural annual strategy day in Brisbane. This was a highly productive day where the board reviewed and discussed headline risks (strategic, operational and financial risks), before embarking on a process of understanding the strategic themes that will provide focus for SETO over the next 12-18 months. The board looks forward to sharing SETO’s strategic intent with SETO members in the coming weeks.
Thank you to our board members for their valuable input and commitment; Liz Anderson, David Walker, Jamie Wansey, Anne-Marie Mitchell, Dan Kellerd, Rebecca Fleming, Peter Fletcher and Aaron Zoanetti and also for the important insights from SETO’s BDM, Brett Harvey.

The SETO board remains focused on the mission of SETO;

“To Lead the educational travel sector in areas of governance, advocacy, and education. A recognised, trusted, connected community advocating safe and sustainable student travel”.

#advocacy #education #governance #SETO #educationaltravel

*****

SETO LAUNCHES ASSOCIATE MEMBER OFFER

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 00:46:05 GMT

SETO LAUNCHES ASSOCIATE MEMBER OFFER

The Student Educational Travel Organisation (SETO) has launched its Associate Membership category offering, with an intent to develop a community of companies that are interested to support the Student Education Travel sector. As a result, SETO has developed a special offer for those companies who join before the 30th October 2022.

SETO has secured over 20 tour operator members since launching in February. The founding year members represent a large share of the student education travel market in Australia and are excited to be working together to rebuild the education group travel sector.

David Walker, Chairman of SETO said “We are seeing a significant increase in enquiry levels across our members for domestic and international trips, with strong demand across sports, music and cultural immersion trips, which is very positive in our recovery strategy”

SETO also recently attended the SYTA conference in Washington DC, with over 900 participants, to help promote Australia as an inbound destination for Education travel.

The Student Educational Travel Organisation (SETO) was established under the umbrella of the Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO) to lead the educational travel sector in areas of governance, advocacy, and education with a vision to accelerate education outside of the classroom, ensuring every student can access and benefit from experiential learning opportunities achieved through travel.

SETO has been set up to function as a conduit between the travel and education sectors incorporating specialist educational travel tour operators, suppliers, teachers, schools, and universities.

To access the SETO Associate offer, click here

SETO AGM CONFIRMS NEW BOARD

Mon, 30 May 2022 03:27:20 GMT

The Student Educational Travel Organisation (SETO) held its first AGM on the 26^{th of} May 2022 to formalise the appointments of its complete Board of Directors.

David Walker of Educational Adventures has been confirmed as Chairman and Jamie Wansey of Student Horizons as Vice Chair for SETO.

Board Director appointments confirmed are as follows: Brett Jardine, CATO-SETO Managing Director, Aaron Zoanetti, of Pointon Partners, Liz Anderson of Sundowners Overland, Pete Fletcher of World Challenge Expeditions, Anne-Marie Mitchell of GET Educational Tours, Rebecca Fleming of Lockton Australia, Dan Kellard of Worldstrides and Nick Minchin AO as an Emeritus Director.

Job Vacancy - CATO-SETO Business Development & Events Manager

Thu, 12 May 2022 06:17:48 GMT

The CATO Board has approved the employment of a new role that will sit across both CATO and SETO.

Role: CATO-SETO Business Development & Events Manager

Reports to: CATO-SETO Managing Director with indirect line to SETO Chairman

Hours: Full-time

Remuneration: Commensurate with experience

Key skills required:
Travel related background in business development with a strong grasp of the land-supply sector, efficient with Microsoft Office365, strong managerial skills and verbal communication, creative writing, attention to detail, well organised with a courteous, and professional attitude.

About

CATO is a trade association representing the domestic and outbound land-supply sector of the Australian travel industry. Full Members are CATO Certified tour operators and wholesalers that sign up to our member code of conduct, ensuring integrity in advertising and delivery of high-quality travel experiences. CATO Associate Members consist of tourist offices and travel related product and service providers.

SETO represents the student educational group travel community, incorporating specialist educational travel tour operators, suppliers, teachers, schools, and universities, to act as a conduit between the travel and education sectors. SETO facilitates further understanding and deeper connections between educational travel operators and the broader education community.

The Role

The CATO-SETO BDM will be responsible for revenue generation across both CATO and SETO through the development and execution of appropriate strategies. The CATO-SETO BDM will be required to manage collaborative relationships with key stakeholders across the travel industry whilst being able to convey the membership value propositions to potential members.

Key Result Areas

Manage and nurture relationships with existing members
Identify incremental membership growth opportunities
Develop and deliver industry events that support member development
Identify and develop external partnerships

Key Functions:

Active and ongoing direct engagement with current members
Research, identify and convert organisations that are not members
Oversight of marketing material to support new & existing member engagement
Direct engagement with prospects to secure new members for both CATO & SETO
Preparation, planning & coordination of relevant member events
Identify, secure, and manage event sponsors
Actively support the CATO-SETO Managing Director, Board Members, and admin staff

Applications including cover letter and resume should be sent to cato@cato.travel

EXCLUSIVE STUDENT TRAVEL INSURANCE FOR SETO MEMBERS -COVERAGE TAILORED TO REMOVE ANY CONCERN FROM POST-COVID STUDENT TRAVEL-

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 10:42:29 GMT

The Student Educational Travel Organisation (SETO) has teamed up with Lockton Australia to provide a much-needed, sector specific, travel insurance program for student group travel.

This program offers confidence to SETO members, that their travellers will be protected from the unknown and unexpected. The Policy provides broad coverage for COVID 19, including unlimited Medical Expenses, high limits for Cancellation, Loss of Deposits / Additional expenses.

The program also extends to include generous protection for financial collapse of End Suppliers and emergency evacuation for medical and security incidents.

David Walker, Chair of SETO said that many schools across Australia were struggling with the challenges of planning and committing to travel programs as they emerge from COVID lockdowns and borders closures.

“Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) was an integral part of student life pre-COVID and SETO is now focused on bringing back confidence to the stakeholders involved in student educational travel,” he said.

A major barrier to-date has been a suitable student travel insurance product that covered specific issues related to COVID-19. The SETO/Lockton partnership has been able to fill that void by providing tailored coverage that reassures teachers, students and parents”.

The SETO Travel Insurance Program, designed to protect the school community when travelling, is EXCLUSIVE to SETO Certified Members. The ease of the program will significantly reduce time spent by student group travel operators with the co-ordination and processing of student travel insurance, and importantly provide a single point of contact for schools’ administrators, teachers and parents in handling enquires relating to COVID coverage.

SETO ANNOUNCES MAJOR CORPORATE SPONSOR

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 04:42:13 GMT

Student Education Travel Organisation (SETO), has today formally announced Lockton Australia as its major corporate sponsor for the next three years via a significant financial contribution to underwrite the roll-out of the association and the development of specific student-related travel insurance products.

SETO launched last week as a new peak industry body for the student travel sector bringing together specialist tour operators, wholesalers, suppliers and educational bodies right across the country. Lockton Australia is a division of the US headquartered Lockton Companies Inc., Lockton is the world's largest privately held insurance brokerage firm providing a specialised travel and tourism division headed up by Rebecca Fleming.

Lockton Australia will provide tailored insurance programs and risk management services, including innovative risk transfer solutions, to SETO members. These initiatives will not only benefit SETO businesses but also their customers, helping to further support SETO’s main objective, which is to provide the highest standard of service delivery.

SETO Chairman, David Walker said, “The commitment from Lockton in supporting an organisation directly involved in the student educational travel sector, is a clear sign of confidence in this burgeoning market.”

Lockton Australia, Head of Travel, Rebecca Fleming said, “Lockton is honoured to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the start-up and development phase of SETO. We look forward to continuing work behind the scenes to develop specific student-related travel insurance products that we expect to launch to the market in the coming weeks.”

Membership of SETO is a hallmark of competence and integrity for student travel tour operators and suppliers of products and/or services for the Australian travel education sector. SETO certified members are specialists who work in conjunction with education departments and schools to make the student's journey a more meaningful and safer experience.

Membership applications are now open for Tour Operator/Wholesaler Membership, Dual SETO/CATO Membership and Associate Membership at www.seto.net.au

NEW PEAK BODY TO FILL EDUCATION TRAVEL VOID -STUDENT EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL ORGANISATION (SETO) ESTABLISHED-

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 05:32:06 GMT

A new Australian peak body, the Student Educational Travel Organisation (SETO), has been established under the umbrella of the Council of Australian Tour Operators (CATO). The newly established not for profit company will lead the educational travel sector in areas of governance, advocacy, and education with a vision to accelerate education outside of the classroom, ensuring every student can access and benefit from experiential learning opportunities achieved through travel.

SETO has been set up to function as a conduit between the travel and education sectors incorporating specialist educational travel tour operators, suppliers, teachers, schools, and universities.

Brett Jardine, CATO and SETO Managing Director said, “The formation of SETO was something that CATO had been planning over the past two years. We acknowledged there was a need in the market for specialisation in the growing educational travel sector. COVID has allowed us the time to appoint a SETO board of directors that reflects the niche market of educational travel and they have worked tirelessly on bringing the idea to fruition. We are delighted to unveil the new Australian peak body to provide an important voice to this market at this crucial time as borders begin to open.”

There are 10,600 schools and universities in Australia, with over five million students, 89% of these students are under 18 years of age and excited to learn through travel exploration. Education and exploration outside the classroom, covers such programs as study tours, sports tours, ski trips, music and performance tours, language immersion trips, expeditions, and service trips, all forming an essential part of student life.

Jardine noted, “SETO was the inspiration of CATO board member David Walker who has been appointed as the inaugural Chairman. SETO will fill a gap in the industry, with the idea gaining momentum through the collaboration of existing CATO members specialising in the field of education travel. Anne-Marie Mitchell of GET Education Tours, Jamie Wansey of Student Horizons, Liz Anderson of Sundowners Overland and Pete Fletcher of World Challenge, all providing extensive input in the initial stages with each of their respective businesses recognised as founding members.

Walker who is also Managing Director of Educational Adventures said, “Learning outside the classroom is an essential part of student development as they move towards their future career in the real world. SETO is committed to ensuring these student opportunities continue to grow, in a safe and sustainable travel environment supported by an elevated level of quality assurance.

“For teachers who organise student school trips, the happiness and wellbeing of the student provides the teacher with their greatest reward and knowledge that the student is broadening their horizons, becoming more culturally aware and experiencing a positive impact on their personal development,” he said.

Membership applications are now open for Tour Operator/Wholesaler Membership, Dual SETO/CATO Membership and Associate Membership at www.seto.net.au