Melbourne travel agency AVG Travels enters liquidation with $4.3 million in debts and $83,000 in assets

Melbourne-based travel agency AVG Travels was placed into liquidation in May 2026. 3 million to nearly 800 creditors while holding $83,000 in assets. Liquidator McGrathNicol stated AVG Travels was unable to provide refunds.

The collapse prompted a petition with more than 1,000 signatures calling for stronger safeguards for travel-agency customers. The petition urges reinstatement of the Travel Compensation Fund, which was abolished in 2014. Arun Jhunjhunwala launched the petition after his extended family group of 45 people lost a planned March 2027 holiday to China.

Arun Jhunjhunwala’s group is $60,000 out of pocket. "There was no prior warning, no communication about their deteriorating financial position and no offer of refunds or alternative arrangements," he said. AVG Travels’ membership with the Australian Travel Industry Association was cancelled in August 2022 for failing to meet financial and ethical standards.

Traveldream, another Australian travel agency, collapsed just over a year before June 2026, leaving travellers stranded overseas. "This isn't just about AVG — it's a systemic failure in the way the travel industry is regulated in Australia," Arun Jhunjhunwala said. Duc Tiem Dao, also known as David Dao, established AVG Travels in Vietnam in 2012.

He opened offices in Melbourne in 2015 and in Japan and the UK in 2025. AVG Travels UK Ltd changed its name to Alder Journeys Ltd on 26 May 2026, the same day the Australian company entered liquidation. 5 million.

A former employee, who asked not to be named, described the weeks leading into the collapse as chaotic. "We were a team trying to work through a tsunami of a situation that we just could not withstand," the former employee said. Airline ticketing was handled by a single staffer in Vietnam while Melbourne staff sold travel and answered customer inquiries.