In the Beginning.

Prior to 1975, the Student Travel Bureau was a standing committee of NZUSA which operated various charter and exchange schemes throughout the country, but at a lower pitch than at present. However in the early 70s, STB successfully negotiated with Air New Zealand (then NAC) for a 50% standby scheme for holders of the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) for internal travel. This caused ISIC sales to rocket, now over 25,000 are issued or renewed annually. As the franchise holders this generated annual returns in excess of $40,000 for NZUSA/STB.

Because of the expanding scope of the operation it was decided, in 1975, to put the operation on a sound commercial looting, and the company Student Travel Bureau Ltd was incorporated in April 1 that year. Because, in those days, student politicians saw green pastures of commercial operations blossoming around every corner, STB was not owned by NZUSA directly. Rather NZUSA created a holding company, Student Services Holdings (SSH) Ltd, which NZUSA owned and which in turn owned STB, and a number of other business ventures some of which were successful (such as Exclusive Travel Ltd) and others which were less so (the publishing company instinctive Impulses Ltd.)

Exclusive Travel, which incidentally is the only company that NZUSA has yet owned which has made money, was bought by SSH as part of the general expansion of the "commercial wing". While STB Ltd could operate its various exchange programmes and other similar ventures, it lacked the franchise to operate as a conventional Travel Agency. To do this it required an IATA (International Air Transport Association) franchise. Exclusive Travel Ltd was a company that had such a franchise, and the various travel operations of NZUSA/SSH further expanded.