Richard Leonard, general manager for Asia Pacific, says regional sales manager ANZ James Hooper is planning to be on this side of the Tasman with Andy Newf from Swiss Travel Systems to highlight some of the developments from that network. The New Zealand trade can also expect sales and operational focused visits from Rail Europe’s Steph Hummels this year.

Meantime, Rail Europe ANZ has appointed Grant Robertson as its second key account manager for Australia and New Zealand.

‘As travel bounces back and demand for rail travel continues to rise, Grant will be working alongside James Hooper, regional sales manager at Rail Europe, to not only support travel advisors with sales and booking enquiries, but also in getting them up to speed with Rail Europe’s latest technologies, services, product training and incentive programmes,’ says Leonard.

Robertson, based in Australia, will be a familiar face to many in the trade on this side of the Tasman. He comes from a background in travel having worked as a travel advisor, in airline sales with Singapore Airlines in Wellington, as well as Air New Zealand in London and Los Angeles. He was also in car rentals with Hertz.