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MOD to leave HoT
After 12 years with the company and the past nine years as chief executive officer of House of Travel New Zealand, Mark O’Donnell (MOD) has announced he will be standing down from his CEO role in December. MOD is relocating with his wife to the Hawke's Bay and taking up a CEO role with a local company.
McKearney brings HLO departure forward
Simon McKearney has finished up as executive general manager at Helloworld Travel. He left on 9 September, earlier than originally planned.
He says this is to enable him to fully move into a new work environment. Communicating with HLO franchise owners, associates and others by email, McKearney said he is making progress in his ‘desires to
re-imagine travel’ and shared this with HLO’s global CEO last week.
TAANZ restructure, disestablishment of CEO role
The board of the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand says that due to the significant financial impact Covid-19 has had on the travel industry and the flow on to TAANZ it has made the difficult decision to restructure the association.
The outcome is that the role of the chief executive officer is no longer affordable and Andrew Olsen will be leaving in September. The board has highlighted Olsen's many years of service to the association and notes he has championed the TAANZ accreditation model and the elevation of staff qualifications and standards, brought to light the successful National Travel Industry Awards, implemented the ATA brand, been at the forefront of negotiations with IATA and more.
Cam Wallace to leave Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand’s chief commercial and customer officer Cam Wallace has resigned from the airline.
He will step away from Air New Zealand on 30 September and will provide consultancy support to CEO Greg Foran until the end of 2020. Wallace has been with Air New Zealand for 19 years and has held a variety of senior and executive roles.
Familiar face at Sunshine Coast
Former Tourism Australia New Zealand manager, Jenny Aitken, will now represent the Sunshine Coast region.
Aitken spent 12 years at the helm of Tourism Australia in New Zealand.
NZTB recognises ‘extra mile’
The New Zealand Travel Brokers team has nominated supplier reps that have gone the extra mile over the past couple of challenging months.
Chimu staffer to raise funds on across Aussie walk
James McAlloon, Chimu Adventures' relationship manager for Queensland will walk across Australia to raise money for people working in South America’s tourism industry hit hard by Covid-19.
In countries where government handouts are few and far between, earning a living for people, who normally make a living out of tourism, has been at all but at a standstill.
McAlloon’s responded to Chimu’s ‘shout out’ to its teams for ideas on how to raise money for the hardest hit.
GTN: new shop in Whangarei
Shannell Christmas has joined Global Travel Network (GTN) with her new retail shop in Whangarei – Travel and Cruise HQ. It's a return to GTN for Christmas who previously operated Small World Travel and Cruise.
‘I knew I wanted to have a large cruise specialist presence here, because I love cruise and feel it is something consumers look for,’ explains Christmas. ‘I created a brand, found a fantastic location and got myself set-up
Domestic team set up at TNZ
Bjoern Spreitzer will lead the newly established team at Tourism New Zealand to restart domestic tourism. The team will ensure TNZ is set up to work in the domestic space and will be structured similar to offshore markets with PR, marketing and trade resource reporting to Spreitzer as general manager.
TNZ’s work in the domestic space will focus on demand stimulation at a national level. Research is currently underway to gather consumer insights to help shape an audience and channels strategy.
Acting CEO for Niue
Moka Ioane-Laufoli will take on the acting chief executive officer role at Niue Tourism until recruitment for the position can be made.
Pearl’s passing: She was a Pearler
The original writer of Pearl’s Pearlers, a regular feature in TRAVELinc Memo / Travel Memo has passed away aged 99.
Pearl Cooper, a former travel agent, started writing her gems in the 1990s when the memos were sent out with brochures to travel agents from Brochure Rack. She continued writing the regular Pearlers when former Travel Memo owner Kevin Blackford started sending the Memo as a stand alone publication – on paper and then digitally.
Vale Kas Steiner
The travel industry is paying tribute to an agent who is credited with ‘opening up the world of travel and adventure’ to the Upper Hutt community.
New face at Haka
Haka Tourism Group has appointed Eve Lawrence as its new general manager to head up Haka Tours and ANZ Nature Tours.
New at Fuzion Travel
Erin Miller is the latest travel advisor to move to Fuzion Travel.
New heads at Young TEC
Zac Watson, Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (ATEED), is the new chair of the Young Tourism Export Council (Young TEC) and Lilly Douglas, Tourism New Zealand is vice chair.
Mini conf, new member for xtravel
Queenstown-based brokers xtravel, of Travel Managers Group, held its first mini-conference recently, celebrating its growing team.
New face at Viva
Gau Kurman is the new marketing executive with Viva Expeditions in Auckland, dealing with public relations and marketing to the travel trade.
New with TMG
Travel Brokers Mark and Renee Frampton are the latest new additions to Travel Managers Group.
BDM for Scenic Niue
Scenic Matavai Resort Niue has appointed Jodi van de Wydeven as business development manager for meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE).
New at Jet Park
Jet Park Hotels has appointed a new group HR manager, Tanya Myers.
New face at Ezi Car
Ezi Car Rental, one of New Zealand’s largest 100% Kiwi owned and operated rental car operators, has appointed Nikki Milward as a business development manager.
New Asia expert at AW
Adventure World Travel has a new Asia expert in the team: Darren Case started with the company early this year after spending half of last year travelling through Asia.
New face at Williment, GO
David Redmond has recently joined the team at Williment Travel and GO Sports & Events as strategic partnership manager.
New at Croatia Times Travel
Jo Rees has joined Croatia Times Travel as a wholesale travel specialist.
xtravel expands to NI
Queenstown-based xtravel, approved broker of Travel Managers Group, has expanded into the North Island with the addition of a new broker.
New face at Viva
Helen Urban has joined Viva as sales support. She will be keeping travel agents updated with new sales, tour updates and support Flavio Stadnik in his BDM role.
New at Tourism Fiji
Tom Svensen is the new partnership manager, New Zealand, with Tourism Fiji.
HOT Ellerslie turns 15 years
The ability to specialise and offer flexibility, as well as operating a general retail travel agency, has kept House of Travel Ellerslie in good stead since it opened in December 2004.
Brown joins Service IQ board
Fergus Brown, CEO of Holiday Parks New Zealand will represent the hospitality sector on Service IQ.
New addition for TMG
Auckland based personal travel manager Nancy Crooks has joined Travel Managers Group (TMG) this month.
New GM for CCC Fiji
Captain Cook Cruises Fiji has appointed Bob Speed as general manager, based at its head office at Port Denarau Fiji.
Flightie flies to FJ
Lisa Mudgway is the new BDM at Fiji Airways and will primarily be looking after Flight Centre and STA, but will also call on all brands.
New face at A&K
Benjamin Dale is Abercrombie & Kent’s New Zealand account manager, based at the new Auckland office on Hobson Street.
New face at World Journeys
Erin Daly has joined World Journeys’ team of expert travel designers this week.
Meechan joins Exotic Holidays
Lynn Meechan has joined Exotic Holidays as groups manager.
Groups head for Active Asia
Gray Gibson, former owner of Mondo Travel Takapuna and past member of the New Zealand Olympic Yachting team has joined Active Asia to take the group role to a new level.
New with NZTB
Terri Hayley is new with NZ Travel Brokers in Lower Hutt.
Heritage promotion
Heritage Hotel Management has promoted Jass Sidhu from central reservations team leader to revenue and yield manager for the Heritage and City Life Auckland Hotels.
New faces at Gilpin Travel
Gilpin Travel has a number of new faces in its team.
Mark Wood joins TMG
Mark Wood of Lateral Travel has joined Travel Managers Group as a broker.
Changes in Marriott’s NZ team
Sara MacLeod has been named director global sales New Zealand with Marriott International.
Change at Tourism Solomons
Fiona Teama has been appointed marketing manager of Tourism Solomons.
New Japan rep in NZ
Julie King and Associates (JKA) has appointed Dylan Joffe as country manager - New Zealand.
New with Tourism Fiji
Samantha Pearson is now Tourism Fiji’s public relations manager, New Zealand, based in Auckland.
New GM marketing at SSC
Sonya Ridley is now general manager marketing with South Sea Cruises, focusing on brand growth, the launch of new products and other general marketing roles.
New face plus promos
Richard Leonard will lead Rail Europe’s Asia Pacific teams in the newly created role of general manager business Asia Pacific.
New face at SSC
Ruzanne Keresoma has been appointed to the new role of global sales coordinator with South Sea Cruises.
New moves at TMS NZ
TMS Talent’s Auckland office has promoted Alisa Wilson to recruitment team manager and welcomes the arrival of new recruit Jo Walton.
Switzerland Tourism’s: ANZD
Livio Goetz is the new director for Switzerland Tourism Australia New Zealand.
New faces at CLIA Australasia
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has boosted its Australasian team with two new appointments to support its travel agent membership and corporate partners.
Change at APX
Max Downing-Webb is the new marketing lead at APX Travel Management.
New broker with Fuzion
Meetesh Patel is the newest recruit to Fuzion Travel’s expanding broker/ affiliate network.
New at Viva
Viva Expeditions has a new destination specialist – Kerren Knighton joined the sales team late April and has settled in selling tours across Latin America and Antarctica.
Deed joins TMG as broker
Wayne Deed has joined Travel Managers Group as a broker.
More...
TMG names new BDM
Chris Schoffer will join Travel Managers Group in the newly created role of business development manager.
Leaving travel for fitness
After 11 years at STA Travel, New Zealand country manager Sarah Bedford has resigned to take up a global marketing role for Les Mills International.
Familiar airline face joins TN
Air Tahiti Nui has appointed well known aviation professional Grant Sinclair as sales and marketing manager.
Inspiring Vacations' NZ BDM
Inspiring Vacations has appointed Alka Thapar as national business development manager. Inspiring Vacations is 100% Australian owned and has operated since 2017.