Australian travellers who booked heavily discounted overseas holidays with Avg Travels were left chasing tickets, itineraries and refunds after trips were cancelled days and weeks before departure.
The Melbourne-based company emailed more than 200 customers last week to say their itineraries were under review because of operational scheduling adjustments, affecting more than a dozen tour packages, many of them China tours. By Monday afternoon, the fallout had spread far beyond individual inboxes. Travellers had reported the matter to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Council of Australian Tour Operators had suspended Avg Travels' accreditation, and a public Facebook group titled AVG Travels Scamming Aussies and Kiwis had drawn more than 345 members.
One of those caught up in the cancellations was Melbourne traveller Elizabeth Jennings, who had been due to leave this week on an 11-day China tour with her husband, John. She said the couple spent weeks trying to secure their tickets and final itinerary before being told the trip had been cancelled. The company offered them the choice of travelling in August or September or taking a credit voucher instead. “We were given the brush-off every time,” Jennings said. “I said no three times. I just want my money back.”
Her experience echoed that of Perth traveller Sam Chisholm, who booked an 11-day China tour with her daughter, Chelsey, departing on 27 May. The pair paid $2,736, including optional tours, but did not receive the e-tickets and hotel details they expected before travel. Chisholm said she and her daughter eventually booked another China holiday independently and spent another $3,500 while waiting for their refund. “This experience has crushed our faith in handing over money to others up-front for this kind of thing,” she said.
AVG Travels said it remained fully operational and was working with affected customers. Its website was still advertising overseas packages at the time of writing, including China tours with 2026 departures listed as available. The gap between that online pitch and the complaints now piling up is what makes this case sting: these were not premium luxury bookings but cheap, heavily discounted holidays sold direct to consumers, and the customers say they were left to absorb the cost of the delays.
The company’s record also draws scrutiny. The reported that AVG Travels’ membership with the Australian Travel Industry Association was cancelled in August 2022 for failing to meet required financial and ethical standards. ATIA’s public list of cancelled or withdrawn ATAS participants says businesses on it have had accreditation cancelled under the ATAS Charter or have voluntarily withdrawn and may continue to operate.
After the ABC published its report on Monday afternoon, AVG Travels refunded Elizabeth Jennings and Sam Chisholm in full. CATO general manager Mira Yates said the body moved quickly once complaints surfaced. “On becoming aware of complaints against AVG Travels this week, we moved quickly to review their accreditation status. That review has resulted in the immediate suspension of AVG Travels’ CATO accreditation,” she said. For the travellers still waiting, the central question is no longer whether the holidays will go ahead. It is whether the money they paid will come back without a fight.
