Emily Shannon, who has previously held roles at Thomas Cook and G Adventures, brings 15 years travel industry experience to the role. She will report to head of business development David Moon and be responsible for existing central region members, and recruitment of new ones.

"[Emily] has a great deal of frontline experience, both in selling travel and managing retail travel agencies," said Moon.

"This experience will be a valuable resource for our existing members as they look to rebuild their businesses. Emily also has a strong background in business development from her time at Flexibletrips and G Adventures, which will serve us well as we seek to recruit new members in this important region.”

Advantage leisure director Kelly Cookes added: “During the height of the pandemic, we clearly had to scale back resources. Now that we are in recovery and the market is improving, we are bolstering the team.

"Emily’s appointment means we now have two business development managers, and we currently have a vacancy for a third. We hope to fill this position in the very near future, which will then bring the business development team to a total of six.

“Having a member-facing team with a blend of the necessary skills and experience to continually add value to our members is at the core of our membership proposition and what we are aiming to achieve over the coming months through our recruitment plans.”