HODGE PODGE: Shifts, Shakeups and Occasional Shaftings in the Tour and Travel Industry

Pat Moscaritolo, the longtime president & CEO of the Boston CVB, has announced his retirement effective February 14, 2019. In a statement, he said that the date is “28 years to the day that I started at the bureau.” Moscaritolo, who turns 75 in 2019, said that he wants to “start enjoying my family and grandkids.”

Fernando Harb has been promoted to the position of senior vice president of tourism sales at the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB. He had previously been vice president of tourism sales. Harb joined the Fort Lauderdale bureau in 2007.

Karen Robertson has been named managing director of JacTravel’s DMC division in Europe. Robertson has been part of the senior management team at JacTravel since 2004. She had previously been director of product and marketing. The company’s DMC division has offices in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Cluj-Napoca, with sales teams also based in Germany, France, China and North and South America.

Deleyse Langdale has returned to Sonoma County Tourism to take on a newly created position as vice president of tourism development. She had previously served as the organization’s international sales director from 2013 until the summer of 2017, then spent the past year as president and owner of Authentic Lifestyle. Before first joining Sonoma County Tourism Langdale was associate director of sales at the California Academy of Sciences.

Eric Noguer is joining Thomas Cook as chief of hotels and resorts; he joins the company with a track record that includes senior positions with competitors TUI Group and Hotelbeds. Noguer is taking over from Ingo Burmester, who recently assumed the role of chief of the UK source market. Noguer will share his time between Thomas Cook’s new office in Palma in Majorca and Oberursel, Germany. He has more than 20 years of experience across the world in the travel industry, working in both tour operating and in hotels and resorts.

Grazia Schillaci has been appointed FIT and group manager at Hozho Travel in New York City. Previously, she had worked as a business development associate at Fare Buzz, and as a reservations manager at Opentours.

Copa Airlines, the Panamanian flag carrier has served as a major connector between South and Central America and the United States, has announced the appointment of Javier Alejandro Ibarra, as sales manager for the interior of the country and that of Alma Delia Ávila, as sales manager for the metropolitan area of the city of Mexico. A veteran in airlines sales, Ibarra worked for 7 years in the commercial area in the city of Monterrey, where he earned important achievements for the airline. Ávila has nearly two decades of experience in the tour and travel industry, having served tenures with Mexicana de Aviación, Royal Caribbean International and American Express Global Business Travel.

Joe Ponte has been named managing director of adventure tour operator Explore. Ponte joins from Flight Centre, where he has spent more than ten years over two different periods, including most recently at in-house touring business Topdeck where he was responsible for 150 staff across sales, marketing, product, operations and finance. He joins Explore on June 18.

Laura Guerreri has been named acting president of the York County (Pa.) CVB. She succeeds Anne Druck, who had held the post for 25 years and who is joining the local chapter of United Way as executive director. Gurreri, who has been with the bureau for 16 years, has served as its director of sales for 12 years.