Travel Counsellors, Riviera Travel, Exsus Travel: this week's travel trade people moves

Travel Counsellors has expanded its support team with the appointment of John Hardcastle and Karen Crick. Hardcastle joins as business performance manager with a particular focus on luxury, while Crick joins as corporate account manager. The newly created role will see Hardcastle divide his time between the company’s support centre in Manchester and on the road to assist top performing agents. Meanwhile, Crick will work alongside top corporate business owners and their customers.

London Southend has ramped up its agent focus with the appointment of Sarah Martin as its first trade and events manager, effective January 2025. An industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience, Martin joins from Hays Travel where she currently is branch manager at the Southend shop. In her new role, she will focus on strengthening relations with agents – hosting B2B meetings, airport visits and fam trips. “London Southend has never engaged with the local travel trade, so creating this position demonstrates our commitment in building and developing a new relationship between airport and agent,” said the airport’s business development manager, Nigel Mayes. “It’s a brand-new way to tap into our 8.2 million catchment across east London, Essex, Southend City and the wider East Anglia region.”

Australia-based expedition cruise line AE Expeditions has appointed Bethany Brown as its new business development sales support, joining the UK-based sales team led by sales director Andrew Turner. In her new role, Brown will focus on developing new industry partnerships while ramping up agent engagement and training. Commenting on the appointment, Brown said: “Adventure travel is a passion of mine and the life-changing experiences that AE Expeditions offers along with their incredible brand messaging is a perfect fit.”

Riviera Travel has hired a new key account manager for northern England, bringing its trade team to eight. Hired on a 12-month fixed term contract effective immediately, Alexander Davies joins from Redbull and will report to national sales manager Claire Hills. “Drawing on my knowledge of the region and sales expertise, I’m excited to build strong relationships with agents, helping them effectively promote our exceptional range of travel experiences and contribute to the company’s continued growth,” he said.

Michelle Mittens, Elaine McGuinness and Charlotte O’Brien have joined Exsus Travel as travel experts, bringing the tour operator’s travel expert team to 13. Mittens, McGuiness and O’Brien have all previously worked in travel, with McGuinness having more than 20 years of experience in the sector while O’Brien and Mittens have each around a decade’s experience. Their focus areas include Australasia, North America and Asia.

Prince Harry's travel and technology charity Catalyst has appointed Gianni Marostica, former global business development managing director at Google, as its new chair of the board following India Gary-Martin's departure. Marostica brings with him a wealth of knowledge as, in his role at Google, he played a pivotal role into getting flight emissions information available to consumers worldwide. Before joining Google, he held senior positions at big technology names such as  ITA Software and Sabre. "Travel connects us to the world, and it should come with a responsibility to protect it," he commented. "By making sustainability data accessible for travellers, we can empower everyone to make more informed choices that preserve the joys of travel and the planet for future generations."