In Brazil, Agaxtur has appointed Israel Dantas as sales director for the country’s Midwest region. A 20-year veteran of the tour and travel industry, Dantas has worked for companies such as the Visual Tourism, Grupo Confiança and CVC.

 

 

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In Germany, the adventure travel company G Adventures has appointed Jeanette Buller as sales director Central Europe, where she is to drive the sales activities of G Adventures across the German-speaking market and further expand the brand’s brand awareness. Buller, who brings 26 years of experience in tourism to the new position most recently headed the sales and marketing department at JT Touristik in Berlin for seven years.

 

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Mario Bass has been named vice president of sales and services at Visit San Antonio. He starts his new position on Oct. 11. Bass comes to the organization from the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, where he serves as director of sales & marketing. Previously, he was director of sales and marketing at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center.

 

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Monarch Holidays has appointed Jodie Stuart as a national account manager. She will report into Simon Garrido, head of trade sales and will work with recently appointed field-based business development executives to develop relationships and increase sales. Stuart previously worked for Saga and Cruise & Maritime Voyages as a field sales rep.

 

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Ken Slattery has joined Team San Jose as vice president of sales and destination services. Previously, he spent more than 14 years with Omni Hotels and Resorts. He was also national sales manager at the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation.

 

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French online tour operator Mister Fly has named Olivier Roche as marketing manager. Previously, Roche spent six years as digital director of the TUI Group and nine years as e-commerce director of the Marmara Group. Roche also helped with the launch of two startups: Travel Price.com and PromoVacances.com.

Keith Douglas has been named managing director of One World Trade Observatory in New York City. He comes to the position from KD&CO, also in Manhattan, where he was president and managing director. Douglas previously served for nearly a decade as managing director of Rockefeller Center and Top of the Rock.

 

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Deleyse Langdale, a well known industry professional who recently left her role as international sales director with Sonoma County Tourism to launch her own business: Authentic Luxury Lifestyle. She plans to make the company the travel industry’s go-to source for luxury experiences across California. For more information, visit: www.authenticluxurylifestyle. com

 

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Denise Rasmussen has been named general manager of Alcatraz Cruises in San Francisco. Rasmussen comes to the new position after serving 11 years as the company’s director of sales and marketing.

 

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Andrew Waller has taken over from Graham Ramsey as chief executive of growing corporate travel group ATPI, with Ramsey remaining as chairman. Waller joined ATPI in January 2017 as international director of corporate development. Previously, he spent more than 10 years at Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) in roles including executive vice-president for the UK, EMEA president and executive vice-president for global business transformation.

 

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The French tour operator Jetset Voyages has appointed Céline Bonizec as a part of its sales team. She is the new commercial manager for Brittany, Pays de Loire, Poitou Charentes and Aquitaine. She takes over from Philippe Lionnet, who will take up other positions within the company. Céline Bonizec has 13 years of experience in the tourism sector, her latest a position being at Vacances Transat.

 

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Nick Ashton has been appointed alliances manager for the Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling. His job is a new position directly linked to the Vueling Next project and whose aim is, according to a statement by the group, “to optimize the existing relationships and develop the company’s alliances strategy by focusing on the customer experience and ‘business optimization.” Ashton, has more than 10 years of experience in the aviation industry, has worked for British Airways, Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia.

 

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Steve Barrass, who once headed up Gold Medal at the time it was acquired by dnata in 2014, has been named senior vice-president, new ventures (Europe) for dnata. In his new role Barrass will head up the effort to increase collaboration between the company’s B2B and B2C businesses. Barrass will be based in the UK and will be supported by Andy Stark, managing director of global.

 

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Cecilia Herculino recently became account manager global accounts Brazil-FCM Travel at Kontik Franstur, which is headquartered in São Paulo. Previously, she was a customer service supervisor for Azul airlines. Herculino was also a sales manager at CH Travel TouchBrazil and an account manager for American Airlines.

 

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American Airlines has promoted Tom Lattig to managing director – EMEA sales. He has moved up from his role as director – corporate sales programs, where he was based in Fort Worth, Texas. In his new role, he will be based at American’s European headquarters in London, overseeing sales activities such as supporting American’s growing network of routes throughout Europe, alongside its partner airlines British Airways, Iberia and Finnair. Lattig joined American Airlines in 1999.

 

Kyle Edmiston of the Louisiana Office of Tourism has been named national State Tourism Director of the Year. His selection was announced as the honoree before more than 850 of his peers at the U.S. Travel Association’s annual ESTO conference in Minneapolis.  US Travel’s National Council of State Tourism Directors votes on the award annually ahead of ESTO. Candidates for State Tourism Director of the Year are nominated by a panel of state and territory tourism directors. Edmiston has been with the Louisiana Office of Tourism for more than five years. Previously, he was president and CEO of the Ruston/Lincoln CVB.

 

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After serving for 15 years on the job, Bob Doak is retiring from his post as president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area CVB. A veteran of more than three decades in the travel and tourism industry, Doak was previously general manager of the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, as well general manager of the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.

 

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Harumi Leonard has been named head of destination management, Inbound USA and Canada, Japan market at G2 Travel. Leonard comes to the new position from Japan Pacific Travel Service, a company that provides service to high-end customers of Japan Airlines.

 

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Kelly Brady is now North America TMC 3rd party sales manager of Travelport Horizon. She joins the company from SLS Las Vegas, where she was senior corporate and leisure sales manager. She has also served tenures at JacTravel and Tourico Holidays.

 

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Ross Levi  has been named executive director for tourism development for New York State’s Empire State Development. Levi, who joined Empire State Development in 2012 as vice president, marketing initiatives, succeeds Gavin Landry, who took over recently as director of the Americas for Visit Britain.

 

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Nancy Walsh is stepping down as president of the U.S. division of Reed Exhibitions which produces the World Travel Market, a staple in the international tour and travel industry. A veteran of more than 30 years with the company, Walsh started with Reed in an entry-level sales position. She later served for 21 years as senior vice president and 7 years as executive vice president, North America.

 

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Paul Maine has left the outbound tour operator business, stepping down from his position as chief commercial officer for STA Travel to join Hotels & More in the newly-created role of group CEO. He will join on September 6 to lead the newly-named Tour Partner Group, the holding company for Hotels & More, Irish Welcome Tours and Authentic Vacations.

Alfredo Gonzalez, who last month resigned his vice president of international sales and global development at Visit Florida, as the latter undergoes a major restructuring, has established the AG Hospitality Group, a multi-purpose consulting and marketing firm to serve clients in the leisure tourism and hospitality business sectors. Well-known in the Florida tour and travel industry, Gonzalez had been with Visit Florida for nearly three years following a stint of more than four years in a senior management position at Brand USA. Previously, he had served for more than 14 years with the Fort Lauderdale CVB.

 

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Ardent, the Australian company that operates theme parks and other leisure tourism properties in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., has former Walt Disney executive Randy Garfield as an independent non-executive director, following a search by global recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles. The move comes after Ardent chief executive Simon Kelly told investors not to underestimate the potential of the group’s U.S. business. Garfield worked in senior roles at The Walt Disney Company for almost 21 years, including as executive vice president of worldwide sales and travel operations for the group’s theme parks. Retiring in 2014, he also served on the board of directors of Brand USA.

 

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Denise Atkinson—the former head of sales at JacTravel, where she worked for more than two decades—has been appointed head of sales at B2B accommodation supplier Travellanda. A statement from the company said that she has been charged with “driving growth” and “taking company to the next level”.

 

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Melissa Wade has been named senior communications director of Visit Pittsburgh. Wade previously served as public health information officer for the Allegheny County Health Department and as creative services producer and event coordinator for CBS/KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.

 

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It’s now Visit Rapid City. For the past year, the Rapid City Convention & Visitors Bureau has worked closely with the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce to create an independent organization known as Visit Rapid City. The new name and brand is also marked by a move to new offices in Rapid City.

 

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Boris Raoul will take up the position of CEO for the Invia Group Germany, the new name of Unister Travel, in September with responsibility for all the tour operator, flights and other portals of distribution. At the same time, he will be CEO of Invia Travel Germany, the parent company of package holidays portal Ab-In-Den-Urlaub. Raoul, who was a senior manager at FTI for 12 years, was head of Unister Travel for two years until March 2016. The Unister group declared insolvency in July 2016 following the death of founder Thomas Wagner. Rockaway Capital, owner of the Czech group Invia Group bought the former Unister Travel portals as of April 2017.

 

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In Brazil, the entire technology area of the consolidator Rextur Advance, a CVC-owned brand, has been put under the leadership of Luciano Guimarães, who is the company’s vice president of operations and marketing. The move follows the departure of André Freller—he was one of the founders of Rextur Advance, which was acquired by CVC in late 2014—to the Technology Committee of the CVC Group.

 

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Audrey Brooks-Wiggins has been appointed head of sales for Funway Holidays. She joins the company from Thomas Cook, where she was head of trade partnerships. Her appointment follows the departure of sales director Amanda Darrington earlier this year. Brooks-Wiggins had been with Cook since 2014 as senior account manager and going on to be head of the commercial and merchandising sales team, before being made head of trade partnerships in January 2016. Prior to that she worked for XL Leisure Group, Hays Travel, and First Choice.

 

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Kane Pirie has been named managing director of the new bespoke tour operator Vivid Travel. Pirie is the former chief executive of Travel Republic—he co-founded the company in 2005, leaving it and the tourism industry in 2013 to serve as ambassador for the World Land Trust.

 

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Richard Singer has been appointed as managing director of Monarch Holidays, succeeding Richard Francis who is moving to the role of deputy chief financial officer at Monarch Group. Singer was previously president for Europe at deals publisher Travelzoo, where he worked for five years. He will begin his new job on October 10.

 

Jonathan Elkoubi has been appointed senior director of business development at VR World NYC, the first “totally VR” attraction in North America. Located at 4 East 34th Street, across the street from the Empire State Building, it comprises 20,000 square feet of space and more than 50 unique experiences. Elkoubi joins the VR World NYC from Applebee’s (Apple-Metro, Inc.), where he was director of tourism, group sales and corporate events. Prior to that, he was director of sales and partnerships with Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Times Square.

 

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JacTravel Acquired by Webjet. Australian-based Webjet is acquiring London-based JacTravel. With the acquisition, JacTravel join Sunhotels, Lots of Hotels and FIT Ruum’s in the company’s B2B division WebBeds, to become one of the world’s largest B2B travel providers. JacTravel operates two distinct brands: JacTravel and totalstay.com, both of which will now become part of the WebBeds business. In bringing JacTravel to the WebBeds’ family, the combined company will boost its annual total transacted volume to over 600 million and will increase its global footprint with offices in 19 countries.The new company will have over 900 employees and a global portfolio of more than 225,000 hotels, of which 17,000 are directly contracted, in all regions of the globe.

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Travel Leaders Group and ALTOUR Merge. two of the largest travel companies in the United States, have signed an agreement to unite under common ownership to form a single, powerhouse travel agency organization with nearly $24 billion in annual sales. There will be no substantive operating changes or name changes to either ALTOUR or Travel Leaders Group’s businesses or organizations. In the 2017 Travel Weekly Power List of the top travel agencies doing business in the United States, ALTOUR ranked No. 14 and Travel Leaders Group ranked No. 9. The Power List comprises companies that do at least $100 million in annual sales.

Alexandre Chemla, founder, president and CEO of ALTOUR, will remain in his current leadership role and Ninan Chacko will continue to serve as CEO of Travel Leaders Group. In addition, upon the closing, Chemla will become a shareholder and join the Board of Directors of Travel Leaders Group Holdings.

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Brian Waters has been named vice president of marketing and executive director at Visit National Harbor—the hotel, casino and entertainment venue along the Maryland side of the Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C. Before his appointment to his new post, Waters led B2B marketing for Hilton Hotels. Previously, he was with Walt Disney Parks & Resorts for almost 15 years. He succeeds Bruce Gudenberg, who is now executive director of industry relations for Hilton.

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Mary Grimley has promoted to the position of vice president of sales for VisitDallas. A member of the organization’s sales team for the past 14 years, Grimley has had numerous jobs as she rose through the ranks, serving lastly as director of group sales. Previously, she spend 15 years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

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The Brazilian tour operator New Tour has hired Ronaldo Amaral, who will be part of the company’s sales team in Rio de Janeiro. He has more than 20 years experience in the trade, with stops at MK Travel and MMTGapnet included. Amaral scan be contacted at: ronaldo@newtourviagens.com.br and (21) 2509-0115.

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Roni Stevens has been named director of marketing and sales for DC Trails. Stevens, who previously worked as director of business development for Reliable Limousine and Bus Service in the Washington DC area, has also served tenures in sales and marketing for Venture Tours, Academy Bus and New World