How Goway’s Micro Film Festival Puts Travel Advisors in the Limelight

This year, Goway is celebrating its 55th anniversary as a leading tailor-made tour operator. The company has unveiled a series of trade-facing programs and the incentives to mark the milestone, including giving away $550,000 to the travel advisor community and even launching a new film festival.

Goway’s Micro Film Festival is a creative initiative to showcase modern travel storytelling through short-form video. In the spirit of the company’s 55th anniversary, the festival invited participants to capture the world through their own lens in 55-second short films.

Submissions for the new film fest opened in April, with three distinct categories: everyday globetrotter, professional creator, and travel advisors. Goway screened a selection of the short films at two events, one in Toronto (timed around the Toronto International Film Festival) and the other in Los Angeles.

A panel of expert judges picked a winner for each division, with $55,000 in prizes up for grabs. Entries were judged based on storytelling and narrative flow, creativity and originality, emotional impact, and overall impression.

“We wanted this to be open to travel advisors … because so much of what we do is to serve the trade community,” Mitchell Fawcett, Goway’s vice president of marketing, told Travel Market Report in an exclusive interview. “We would never do something that big without inviting the travel advisor community.”

Last month, Goway announced the winners of its inaugural film festival. Wisconsin-based Ceera Machotka took home the top prize in the advisor category for her film “Fueled by Wonder: 55 Seconds Around the World.”

“It was also incredible to fly to LA for the final event,” Matchotka said to TMR about her experience winning the film festival. “Honestly, it still doesn’t seem real.”

Celebrating Creativity in the Travel Advisor Community

The Goway Micro Film Festival was created to capture the spirit of innovation that lies at the core of the tour operator’s business ethos. The program accomplished this through celebrating storytelling in the age of social media—where short, authentic, and emotionally resonant content often carries the greatest impact.

“This Film Festival very much is informed by smartphone and social media technology and how that is just completely reshaped storytelling,” said Fawcett. “When you think of the very first brochure that Goway produced in 1970 to where we are today, 55 years later, travel storytelling could not be more different.”

In all three categories, participants were encouraged to submit in either horizontal or vertical video format, with the only limitations being the 55-second runtime, a minimum 1080p resolution, and that any music used must be royalty-free.

For its first year, the festival received over 260 submissions, half of which came from members of the travel advisor community. Fawcett said the team was impressed by the range of destinations featured in the videos—including a mix of far-flung regions like Qatar, Maldives, Singapore, India, Japan, Peru, Guatemala, Egypt, and Morocco.

For many, their submission was their first foray into visual storytelling, and Goway’s team was moved by the results.

“Even the new creators showed passion and heart—that was honestly very touching,” said Fawcett. “There was definite gratitude that we had a special category for the trade.”

When asked about her participation in the festival, Machotka said she was drawn to the festival as a way to tell her story.

“When I travel, I love capturing the moments, through photos and videos. It’s a great way to reminisce and live through those memories for years to come, but also appreciate the places I’ve visited, people I’ve met, places I’ve stayed, and experiences I’ve had,” she explained. “In my years of being a travel advisor, no other travel partner has offered something like this, so I knew I couldn’t pass it up.”

Goway’s Short Film Festival Returns in 2026

Following the success of the inagural program, Goway is brining back its Micro Film Festival in 2026.

“Next year is going to be even bigger with more opportunities for travel advisors to take part,” Fawcett told TMR. “It felt really authentic to Goway as a brand… it could have been a one-off birthday event, but it feels like something that’s part of our long-term future.”

Machotka encourages her fellow members of the trade to get involved in the film festival.

“It’s really such a fun process, to come up with the idea, and be able to tell your story,” she said. “There are so many creative people out there, I can’t wait to see the winning videos for next year. I hope each year, there are even more entries, and they continue to do it for years to come. To inspire people to travel, and document your journey, I think that’s why most of us have a passion for visual content creation.”

For travel advisors who want to participate next year, Fawcett recommended focusing on the narrative aspect of the video: “My advice is to tell us a story — something meaningful to you that reflects what travel is.”

It’s also never too early to get started; Fawcett suggested travel advisors get in the habit of shooting short videos whenever they travel, and to get acquainted with mobile video editing tools. Not only will it come in handy for creating a film festival submission, but it’s also great content to post on social media.

“Even snapping a three-second video when you’re out on a trip can set you up for great video content,” he said.