Travelzest merges tour and retail operations

Published: 19 Nov 2009

Travelzest group distribution director Nishma Robb has stepped down as part of a major restructuring of the company’s UK operations.

Robb has tendered her resignation as group distribution director and will leave the group in January 2010 to pursue other opportunities. Nishma joined Travelzest in April 2006 and has been responsible for developing the group’s online capability.

The restructuring of the UK operations “will provide much needed strategic refocus on retail distribution, product and sales operations. Summer trading was slightly behind expectations; however we continue to see improvements in operational efficiencies that we believe will provide stronger operational results going forward,” stated the company.

Details

The executive management team has been focused on restructuring operations to align the group with current market opportunities. The group’s tour and retail operations have been merged to ensure resources and knowledge are shared throughout the group.

This will broaden the product offering to the group’s combined client base. A new retail distribution strategy that will expand the market presence of Travelzest’s unique brands and products is also being pursued.

To facilitate this process, the following four new positions have been created, each reporting to Jonathan Carroll, CEO, and Jack Fraser, COO/FD of Travelzest:

Stuart Morris, previously VP of marketing of itravel2000, has been appointed group vice president of marketing for the Canadian and UK Operations. itravel2000 is the leading online holiday portal in the Canadian market and Stuart’s role is to leverage this experience across the Group, promoting all products in both the UK and Canadian markets. He is also leading the redevelopment of Travelzest’s retail distribution in the UK market.

Nick Wrightman, previously GM of Tapestry Collection, a tour operator for Turkey, has been appointed VP of Product (UK Operations).

Steve Diederich, previously MD of Best of Morocco/Faraway Holidays, a tour operator to Morocco and the Far East, has been appointed VP of Sales Operations (UK Operations).

Jonathan Blizzard, previously GM of JMB and WOW House, has been appointed GM (UK Operations). Blizzard’s responsibility will be to improve the overall efficiency of operations in the UK as product, sales and distribution functions are unified.

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