Former airline sales executive Thomas Gjerde has launched Norwegian Wonders Pty Ltd, a Norway and Nordic specialist that is putting a strong focus on partnering with Australian travel advisors.<\/strong><\/p>\n Former airline sales executive Thomas Gjerde has launched Norwegian Wonders Pty Ltd, a Norway and Nordic specialist that is putting a strong focus on partnering with Australian travel advisors.<\/p>\n Based on the Gold Coast, the company offers premium small-group, independent and tailor-made journeys across Norway, Scandinavia and the wider Nordic region, with a particular strength in Northern Norway.<\/p>\n Norwegian-born Gjerde, who is founder and managing director, has more than 20 years\u2019 experience across aviation, travel and tourism, including senior sales, commercial and partnership roles with Qantas, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific and other international airlines.<\/p>\n He said Norwegian Wonders was created to combine his local knowledge and relationships with his experience in the Australian travel industry.<\/p>\n \u201cI have spent much of my career working with the Australian travel trade and have enormous respect for the role travel advisors play,\u201d Gjerde said. \u201cI want Norwegian Wonders to be a genuine partner to agents \u2013 providing specialist knowledge, flexibility, personal service and importantly, ensuring agents are properly rewarded for the business they bring to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Norwegian Wonders\u2019 current agent commission is 15%, with opportunities for enhanced commission and incentives through selected partnerships and campaigns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe travel trade is extremely important to us and we want advisors to be properly rewarded for their business,\u201d Gjerde said. \u201cWe\u2019re also very happy to work directly with advisors on independent and tailor-made enquiries, so they can bring us a client brief and we can help build the Nordic itinerary for them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhether an advisor has clients looking for a fully hosted journey, an independent holiday, a private itinerary or something completely tailor-made, we want them to be able to pick up the phone, tell us what their clients are looking for and let us help put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n Northern Norway will be a key focus alongside Oslo, Bergen and the fjords, with experiences spanning the Northern Lights, Midnight Sun, Arctic activities, skiing, rail journeys, food, culture and history.<\/p>\n Gjerde said Australian interest in the region was strong.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing very strong interest from Australian travellers in Northern Norway, particularly around the Northern Lights, but increasingly also for the Midnight Sun and summer experiences,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a growing appetite to go beyond the more traditional Scandinavian itineraries and experience places such as Narvik, Lofoten and the wider Arctic region.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Northern Lights are obviously a major drawcard, but what we\u2019re finding is that travellers want a broader experience around them \u2013 local culture, food, history, Arctic wildlife, huskies, S\u00e1mi experiences, skiing and spectacular scenery. Australians are travelling a long way, so they want the journey itself to be memorable rather than simply ticking off the Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n The company\u2019s offering spans hosted small-group tours, independent journeys, tailor-made itineraries and private experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe deliberately keep our hosted groups very small, with a maximum of 12 guests, which allows us to offer a much more personal experience than traditional coach touring,\u201d Gjerde said.<\/p>\n Upcoming signature small-group departures, hosted by Gjerde, are:<\/p>\n \u201cPricing varies by departure and itinerary, and we also offer independent, private and tailor-made journeys for clients who prefer not to travel as part of a group,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Beyond its tour operations, Norwegian Wonders is offering Australian and New Zealand representation services for Scandinavian and Nordic travel and tourism businesses, covering market representation, trade engagement, and sales and partnership development.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a new area we are actively developing. We\u2019re currently open to discussions with Scandinavian and Nordic travel and tourism businesses that are looking for representation and market development support in Australia and New Zealand,\u201d Gjerde said. \u201cThe opportunity is to use our existing relationships across the Australian travel trade, combined with my background in airline, corporate and leisure sales, partnerships and business development, to help Nordic businesses establish or strengthen their presence in this market.\u201d<\/p>\n He said some discussions were already under way, but nothing could be announced publicly yet.<\/p>\n \u201cAviation will always be close to my heart, but I\u2019m incredibly excited to now put my full energy behind Norwegian Wonders and to work even more closely with the Australian travel agency community,\u201d Gjerde said.<\/p>\nAgent commission<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Demand for Northern Norway<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Small-group departures<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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![\"Experiences](\"https:\/\/travelweekly.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Picture13.png\")
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Nordic representation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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