The recent Business Leader Growth 500 Awards in London named Wendy Wu Tours founder Wendy Wu Tours as its Female Trailblazer of the Year.
Recognised for her exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial vision, and longstanding contribution to the travel industry, Wu joins a select group of winners including Victoria Beckham and Elizabeth Murdoch. “To be recognised now as Female Trailblazer of the Year is deeply personal—and profoundly humbling,” says a modest Wu, who has long-credited travel agents as a cornerstone of her company’s success. “Our trade partners are the lifeblood of our business,” she says. “We are only here because of their support, trust, and shared belief in delivering life-changing travel experiences.”
. . . Wu’s Story
Wu started her business at her kitchen table in 1994, offering a single tour to China, which was advertised in the newspaper and attracted 28 guests. The business grew fast and two years later she had opened an office in China and added Vietnam to the program. Then in 1998 Wendy Wu Tours Pty Ltd officially launched in Australia with its first two employees, Chris Adis and Amanda Bruno, both of whom are still with the company. Other career highlights have included Wu pioneering the first Western escorted group tour into Tibet in 2000, India being added to the portfolio in 2004, and just a few years later, Japan. Between 2005 and 2015 Wendy Wu Tours entered the UK market and then New Zealand, and Southeast Asia— then the awards started rolling in. Wu was inducted into the British Travel and Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2017, won Escorted Tour Company of the Year at the British Travel Awards for the seventh year running in 2018, won Best Long- Haul Specialist Operator at the UK Globe Awards twice, and in 2023 topped the Power List at Australia’s Women in Travel Awards.
1: Wendy Wu with her Trailblazer award
2: On a tour in China, 1995
3: Her early days of Wendy Wu Tours
