Long-time travel and tourism industry advocate Isabel Hill has retired from her post as director of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO). Another long-time travel and tourism industry figure, julie heizer (right), has been named as NTTO’s acting director. Hill was a part of the U.S. government’s national tourism office since 2003. She became director of NTTO in February 2013. Heizer’s career of more than three decades in the industry included tenures as deputy director for tourism development at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development; executive director of the Virginia Peninsula Tourism & Conference Bureau and vice president of tourism for the Washington DC Convention and Tourism Corporation before joining NTTO in 2003.
Cassady Bailey, who has been with Brand USA for nearly a decade, was recently promoted to the post of vice president, partner engagement and marketing for the organization. She had been senior director of partner engagement and planning for four years. Bailey has been with Brand USA since the fall of 2012, when she started out as a business development assistant. She joined the organization from the U.S. Travel Association.
Travel Alberta has appointed Jon Mamela as senior vice president and chief commercial officer, leading tourism and destination development for the organization. effective March 14, 2022. He joins Travel Alberta from Destination Toronto, where he was executive vice president & chief marketing officer. Mamela’s resumé also includes a tenure as chief marketing officer and senior vice president, marketing & sales at Destination Canada. Mamela knows Alberta well. He served as Travel Alberta’s vice president, marketing and sales from 2010-2011.
Kai Duve has taken up the role of commercial director at Eurowings, a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Previously head of cabin crews in Frankfurt at Lufthansa, he will be responsible for human resources, finance, IT, strategy and procurement at the carrier. As a member of a three-person management team headed by chief executive, Jens Bischof, Duve succeeds Frank Bauer, who, after three years on the Eurowings executive board, is moving to the Lufthansa finance division.
Flight Centre Travel Group has appointed Tom Walley to the newly created role of global managing director of Corporate Traveller, which specializes in business travel for small to medium-size enterprises. Walley became a part of Flight Centre more than 20 years ago and has worked for the company’s corporate and leisure divisions in the UK and Australia. He will retain his current position of general manager for Corporate Traveller in Australia.
Decolar has announced the appointment of Daniela Araujo as its new director of sourcing, air. Araujo, former head of international sales of Gol Linhas Aéras for trade. Before joining Decolar, Araujo worked for more than five years with Gol airlines.
A familiar presence, Marion Wolf is now the new face at Visit Florida for German-speaking Florida visitors. She will be in charge of sales and marketing at the German agency Lieb Management for the state’s tourism office and will be responsible for the German, Austrian and Swiss markets. Wolf has been working in tourism for more than 30 years. For the past few years, she and her agency MS Wolf Marketing had looked after Visit St. Petersburg for some time. For Wolf, the move is a return to Visit Florida: She had already worked for Visit Florida from 1994 to 2003 as director of marketing Germany/Austria/Switzerland, at that time from their Frankfurt office.
Classic Vacations, a global luxury travel wholesaler, has named Melissa Krueger as chief executive officer. Krueger succeeds David Hu, who served as president and CEO of Classic Vacations for the past 13 years. Krueger has been with Classic Vacations for nine years, most recently leading its groups division as vice president and general manager.
Visit Lake Charles has announced the addition of Timothy P. Bush as its chief marketing officer. Most recently, Bush was the chief tourism development officer for OneSpartanburg, Inc., with the mission of building a vibrant Spartanburg through business, economic and tourism development. Previously, Bush was the president/CEO of Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou Tourism for nearly six years where he directed the strategic vision along with developing tourism products to drive more economic impact to the community. He was also was the marketing manager for Visit Macon with for nearly two years
Jim Vozzella has been appointed as a senior sales manager at 360 CHICAGO Observation Deck. He came to the attraction from Getting Local, in which he helped spread the word about a new contactless tourism solution. And for more than nine years, Vozzella was a performer at the Laugh Out Loud Theater in Chicago.
Portsmouth, Virginia has named Dr. Alexander Benitez as the city’s new director of museums and tourism. Benitez has 30 years of experience under his belt working for various state and university museums, and the Smithsonian Institution. Between 2016 and 2022, Benitez served as the Director of Moundville Archaeological Park at the University of Alabama, where he oversaw the preservation and cultural interpretation of one of the most important Native American heritage sites in the United States. Benitez also held the position of assistant professor of anthropology at George Mason University.
The DMC Network announced the promotion of Aoife Delaney to the role of vice president, business development. The company said his promotion signals the DMC Network’s commitment to growing bigger and better than ever before at the outset of 2022, and ensures its HQ leadership team will be in a solid position to work with all DMC Network partners during a promising year of recovery and growth. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Aoife has over 15 years of industry experience, including five years as the DMC Network’s director of global sales & marketing for Europe & Asia.
Thomas Osswald has taken over as managing director of Derpart. Osswald, who Derpart this month, began his job with De began his career in 1994 in the travel agency franchise sector in various managerial positions at Lufthansa City Center Reisebüropartner and became its managing director in 1999. Beginning in 2009, Osswald held various managerial positions at the Amadeus subsidiary i: FAO Group and at the parent company Amadeus, including being commercial director for key customer relations, commercial and key account services. Osswald succeeds Andreas Neumann and Aquilin Schömig, who left the company at the end of 2021.
Cherie Richards has stepped down from her post as chief of staff for Not Just Travel, which she joined in June 2020. Previously, she served for almost 12 years as director of commercial at Global Travel Group.
Marking its recent entry into the space tourism industry, World View, a leader in stratospheric exploration, has announced the appointment of Dale Hipsh as president of tourism and exploration. He joins the company from Hard Rock International, where he served for nearly a dozen years, lastly as senior vice president. Earlier in his career, he spent more than six years with Hard Rock as vice president of operations at the Seminole Hard Rock & Casino.
Long-time veterans of the U.S. inbound tourism industry, brothers Eric and Andrew Thomas have gotten together and rolled out Esploru℠—a new receptive tour operator which offers tailor-made luxury product in North America. Originally launched in 2019, the Thomas brothers, sons of the late Albert Thomas, who established City Tours USA in 1978, had to put their product “on the shelf” during the global pandemic that devastated the international inbound tourism industry in 2019 and 2021. They re-introduced the brand at last month’s Fitur in Madrid. Headquartered in Miami Beach, you can find Esploru online at www.esploru.com.
Susan Klein has been named chief marketing officer at VisitPITTSBURGH. Klein joins the organization following a four-year stint as the head of content marketing for Doublespace, Inc., a marketing and branding agency with clients in finance, technology, arts and nonprofit. Prior to that, Klein spent eight years in San Francisco, most recently serving as head of marketing communications and visitor services for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Anna Karnowski has joined the sales team at peek, a booking software and marketplace for virtual and in-person experiences for travelers and locals. She joins the company from the One World Observatory in Manhattan, where she was senior director of sales. Previously, she served in sales positions at SPYSCAPE and New York Water Taxi.
The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau has appointed Alissa Steele as marketing manager, responsible for developing and executing marketing activities in support of sales and branding initiatives for the bureau and its partners. Previously, Steele she served as an advertising specialist for the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team, and as an advertising coordinator at Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
Aerospace and space travel company Virgin Galactic Holdings has named Blair Rich its president and chief business officer as the company prepares for the launch of commercial service later this year. Rich will lead all aspects of the company’s commercial strategy including sales, marketing, business and product development, communications, operations, and customer experience. Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Rich spent 23 years at Warner Bros. Entertainment, starting as an intern and rising to lead worldwide marketing for the company.
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Job Postings
From SearchWide Global:
—Visit Seattle is searching for a new president and CEO. More details here.
—Conference Direct, a provider of global meeting planning solutions, is searching for vice president of global sales. More details here.
—Meet Minneapolis has an opening for a vice president of equity, diversity and inclusion. More details here.
—The Tennessee Hospitality Association is looking for an executive director. More details here.
—The South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau is seeking a new CVB director. More details here.
—The Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau is seeking a new chief financial officer. More details here.
—Visit El Paso is searching for a director of marketing and communications. More details here.
—The Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau has an opening for the position of vice president. More details here.
—A world-wide hospitality group is looking for an executive director of hotel sales & marketing a position that would be based in San Francisco, Toronto or remotely. More details here.
—Visit Greater Palm Springs has an opening for a vice president of sales. More details here.
—Visit Dana Point is looking for an executive director. More details here.
—In the Charlotte/Concord area of North Carolina, Great Wolf Resorts has an opening for a director of sales and catering. For details, click here
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From LinkedIn Jobs: Known to many across the board in the travel and tourism industry, the LinkedIn list (click here) has numerous job opportunities posted. Following is a brief sample of some of those jobs currently listed.
—Snowmass Village in Colorado is looking for a tourism manager. It’s a new position, focused on operations and management of the Snowmass Tourism office. More details here.
—The Space Coast Office of Tourism in Florida is seeking a deputy director. More details here.
—Visit Denver, The Convention & Visitors Bureau for Denver, is looking for a director of government and community affairs. More details here.
—The Museum of Science in Boston is searching for a group and tourism coordinator. More details here.
—The Colorado Tourism Office Communications is looking for a senior manager. More details here.
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From Indeed.com: We’ve taken a look at this site (click here) which says that it has hundreds of new jobs listed, including a fair number in the travel, tourism and related industries. A sampler of what to expect is below.
—The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau (think Penn State University area) has an opening in Sports Tourism Sales. More details here.
—AEG Worldwide is searching for a director touring – operations in Los Angeles. More details here.
—David Tours & Travel in Philadelphia is looking for a group travel coordinator. More details here.
—Yakima Valley Tourism has an opening for a communications & travel trade manager. More details here.
—In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, there is an opening for a guest experience associate at the Hollywood Wax Museum. More details here.
—The City of Virginia Beach has an opening for a convention and tourism representative. More details here.
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Have a job to offer in the travel and tourism industry? Let us know and we’ll post your notice—no cost to you. Email tom@tomberrigan.com
