Barrhead Travel, Red Sea Holidays, Ramble Worldwide: this week's travel trade people moves

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Barrhead Travel, Red Sea Holidays, Ramble Worldwide: this week's travel trade people moves

Training

Harry Kemble

19 December 2024

TTG’s weekly round-up of the latest appointments, promotions, restructurings and farewells from across the trade is the definitive digest of the travel trade people moves you need to know about.

TTG's people moves digest is published every Wednesday

Moves this week see Barrhead Travel sales and marketing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell receive a promotion, while Red Sea Holidays has hired a new business development executive for the north.

Inspire Europe, meanwhile, has separated out its core businesses and handed individuals new roles in the process, while former World Travel and Tourism Council president Gloria Guevara Manzo has been nominated for a top tourism role. Kerzner International has also made three significant appointments across its portfolio.

Elsewhere, instead of bringing you a move, we bring you a "people stay" after Atlas Ocean Voyages president and chief executive James A Rodriguez decided to stay in his role at the luxury expedition line rather than leave at the end of the month.

So here are the latest major travel trade hires, promotions and job moves over the past week (Wednesday 11 December to Wednesday 18 December).

Have you recently made a new appointment or taken on a new role? Do you have some personnel news for us from your business or organisation? Drop us an email at feedback@ttgmedia.com.

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Nicki Tempest-Mitchell receives promotion at Barrhead Travel

Barrhead Travel sales and marketing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell has been promoted to the role of managing director. Former Thomas Cook head of retail Tempest-Mitchell worked with Barrhead on a consultancy basis following Cook’s collapse in September 2019 before joining permanently in 2021. Her appointment follows Barrhead president Jacqueline Dobson’s promotion in June to president of Internova Leisure, a division of Barrhead’s US parent Internova Travel Group.

Red Sea Holidays names new business development executive

Red Sea Holidays has appointed experienced travel agent Amber Eastwood as business development executive for the north, effective immediately. The operator said Eastwood will be the “face of Red Sea Holidays” in the north and will regularly visit travel agencies in the region as well as host training sessions and attend local trade events. Prior to joining Red Sea Holidays, she worked at Thomas Cook, Hays Travel, Barrhead Travel and most recently as a homeworker for Cruise118.

Walking specialist strengthens trade focus with new hire

Ramble Worldwide has appointed Kelly Maher to a newly created head of marketing role, with responsibility for both direct and trade communications. Maher brings more than 15 years' marketing experience to her new role with Ramble from spells with British Airways, Teletext Holidays and Your Golf Travel. One of Maher's first aims will be to recruit a trade partnerships manager to "further strengthen ongoing work to re-engage trade partners". Speaking to TTG earlier this year, Ramble's new managing director Wayne Perks said working with agents "represented a huge opportunity" for the specialist. Maher said she was delighted to be joining a company with "rich heritage and a bright future". Perks added Maher joined at a "pivotal moment" in the brand's evolution.

Inspire Europe hands out two promotions amid corporate restructure

Cheshire-based Inspire Europe has announced its managing director Lisa Henning has been promoted to chief executive following a corporate restructure. The company’s two core businesses – Inspire Europe and Inspire GBR – will now operate as “independent entities” under separate leadership teams. Henning and chief financial officer Richard Buxton have been handed new roles as a result. Buxton is now finance director at Inspire Europe. Henning explained: "During recent months the board has been evaluating its overall business strategy. We concluded that running the businesses independently, while maintaining certain shared strategic resources, would best serve each entity's future, ensuring continued growth and long-term sustainability."

Kerzner International undergoes management reshuffle

Kerzner International has announced three leadership appointments as part of a brand management structure. Mark Kirby (top left) will take up the role of One&Only president on 6 January. Kirby, who has previously held the role chief operating officer and head of hospitality at Emaar Hospitality Group, brings more than 25 years’ leadership experience to the position. Paul Baker (right) will spearhead the Atlantis Resorts brand following his move to Kerzner in August. Kerzner said Baker brings “an abundance of knowledge and experience to Atlantis”. Meanwhile, Kerzner International’s global vice-president of operations, Mattheos Georgiou, has been promoted to senior vice-president, SIRO and Rare Finds. Kerzner said under Georgiou’s guidance, both brands will continue to expand their global footprint while maintaining their unique identities.

Atlas Ocean Voyages president decides to remain in role

Atlas Ocean Voyages president and chief executive James Rodriguez has decided to remain in his role. In October, the luxury expedition line announced Rodriguez would leave the line at the end of the year, but this month he decided to stay on. “Leading this exceptional group of professionals has been one of the most rewarding chapters of my career, and I look forward to driving our continued success together,” he said. Meanwhile, Mário Ferreira, chair of Atlas' parent Mystic Invest Holding, said: “The expedition cruise market has experienced explosive growth over the past two years and Atlas Ocean Voyages is well-positioned for 2025, with 70% of inventory already sold. James Rodriguez has been instrumental in the success of Atlas Ocean Voyages and is the proven leader to guide its future.”

Former WTTC president nominated for top tourism role

Gloria Guevara Manzo, former president of the World Travel & Tourism Council, has officially been nominated by the Mexican government as a candidate to become the next Secretary-General of UN Tourism. UN Tourism is a specialised agency of the United Nations that focuses on promoting responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism. It is common UN protocol for the role of secretary-general to be rotated to a different continent member at each election. Guevara was previously minister for tourism for Mexico and has just completed her term as senior special advisor to the minister of tourism in Saudi Arabia.

On the Beach appoints sports betting exec to its board

On the Beach Group has appointed Victoria Self, managing director of player experience at Ladbrokes and Coral parent Entain Ltd, to its board. Self, who is a previous comparethemarket.com product chief and brings experience from stints with major consumer brands such as Marks and Spencer, Currys, Carphone Warehouse, Urban Outfitters and Mothercare, will take up her new independent non-executive director role with the OTA group on 3 February 2025 – her first such role. David Kelly, meanwhile, will stand down from the On the Beach Group board on 10 January following a nine-year tenure as a non-executive director. The group said it wanted to thank Kelly for his "significant contribution" to the business over nearly a decade, adding Self would bring "invaluable" experience from senior management posts "at some of the UK's leading digital and consumer businesses".