With development in full swing, Sudima Christchurch City now has a new hotel manager to lead the charge – Maree Welgus.

Welgus is currently executive assistant manager for Sudima Lake Rotorua, and is an experienced industry professional.

The Walshe Group is farewelling longstanding country manager Australia/New Zealand for Sultanate of Oman Tourism, Mona Tannous.

Tannous has made the decision to explore a new direction after 10 years with the organisation.

Becoming a broker after a number of years away from retailing has been made easier by the availability of new technology, according to a broker who returned to the ‘front-line’ just over a year ago.

Mark Hutchinson joined NZ Travel Brokers about a year ago.

Although his background does include considerable retail and wholesale experience, he was on the supplier side of the industry (including 15 years at Air Tahiti Nui) before taking the broker plunge.

Hamilton-based Sarah Weaver had only been a broker with Travel Managers Group (TMG) for seven months when she won the group’s Marketing Achievement Award last year and she says communication and engagement with customers are key to success.

‘In the early couple of months, while building my client base, I had the time to set up my Facebook business page and put a lot of thought into how I wanted it to look; learnt a lot about good content and how to get engagement and reach to make my posts seen, when to post and who

Thai Airways New Zealand recently appointed Nigel Taylor sales manager, New Zealand. He has extensive Industry experience and relationships through roles in fares and ticketing, GSA and airlines as well as more recently in Global Distribution Systems (GDS) with Sabre Travel Network.

‘Thai Airways is committed to the New Zealand market and with the appointment of Nigel Taylor to our team we look forward to working closely with our trade partners,’ says Khun Karun Sirarojanakul, general manager New Zealand.

Driving the cruise strategy for the House of Travel Group, including retail and digital channels, is a key responsibility of Jeff Leckey in his new role.

As reported in a One Minute Memo yesterday, Leckey is now general manager cruise for the House of Travel Group.

He will work closely with cruise line partners and with the Cruise Lines International Association  (CLIA) with a goal to growing the New Zealand cruise market. Increasing the network of HOT cruise consultants around New

Brooke Serene, the boutique hotel management group, has promoted Georgina Torrington director of sales and marketing.
Previously marketing manager for the company, Torrington will provide the strategic direction of marketing, media, sponsorship and sales initiatives for the group as well as look after Christchurch and Canterbury based clientele.
Meantime, Simone de Jong has been named business development manager and will look after relationships with travel agents, wholesalers and inbound tour operators.

After 21 years on the go, colleagues, friends and industry partners said goodbye to Adventure World’s general manager Dave Nicholson last night, as he plans to tackle new adventures.
A well-known leader in the New Zealand travel industry, Nicholson has flown the Adventure World flag at countless industry functions and agency famils.
He plans to take a year out to travel and spend quality time with his family.

Kelly Eichholtz is now area director of sales and marketing New Zealand with IHG New Zealand. 

Based at Crowne Plaza Auckland, Eichholtz is responsible for building and developing InterContinental Hotel Group’s (IHG) New Zealand-based sales, marketing and revenue teams. 

Adventure World has appointed Caryn Young, who celebrated her 10th year with the company in March, to the newly created role of head of operations.

The Langham, Auckland’s director of sales and marketing, Michael Shah, has been named the Sales & Marketing Associate of 2017 at the HM Awards – the Asia-Pacific’s leading awards for the hotel sector.

A familiar face, especially when it comes to promoting the Pacific, Wendy Fisher has been appointed New Zealand sales ambassador and business development manager by Edgewater Resort & Spa in Rarotonga.

Airline Marketing New Zealand has appointed Danielle Caltaux as the dedicated account manager for Air France KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in New Zealand.  Caltaux will be responsible for trade partnerships and relationships in the New Zealand market. Her previous position was Business Development Manager for Excite Holidays. 

Ollie Joblin is the new business development manager NZ for both Tucan Travel and Sundowners Overland.

Joblin was previously a travel consultant with Flight Centre and is extensively travelled through Tucan’s ‘territory’ of South America and also in Russia, Mongolia and China – useful when promoting Sundowners’ product such as the trans-Siberian, Vodka Train and Silk Rd.

Todd Barry, general manager of Tucan Travel says New Zealand is a growing market for Tucan and credits at least partially the relatively new Air New Zealand flights into Buenos Aires and Houston – gateways for South America and Central America.

‘We are known as South American experts but we also do tours in North America, Asia, Africa and Europe.’

The government needs to ‘lower its sights’ to make it easier for skilled international travel agents to work in New Zealand, says Andrew Olsen, chief executive of the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ).

Olsen says that try as the industry might, it cannot convince the government that there is a skill shortage in the industry.

‘Visas should be made easier to obtain in this area,’ he says.

Vanessa Tjemplon has joined Aircalin as sales executive New Zealand following a company restructure in the wake of Angela Hallett’s departure.
Tjemplon, who will be based in Auckland, has more than 14 years of industry knowledge and experience as well as a deep understanding of New Caledonia and Aircalin’s services.
Meanwhile, Chris Thistlethwaite will assume the role of country manager for New Zealand (in addition to Australia). Thistlethwaite, who has 17 years of experience in the travel industry in sales and management, will continue to manage

By Lisa Bradley

The World Journeys team is living proof enforced change – and a bit of bottle – can lead to success that ultimately feels made to measure.

The company was created by a group of travel colleagues who broke away from Adventure World when the organisation was taken over by Australian corporate giant NMRA in 2007. A decade on, World Journeys is going strong.

But while the takeover provided the impetus for change, the World Journey directors say standing true to the company’s core principle of offering boutique experiences based on specialist knowledge is what has helped it clock up 10

Emprendedor, intraprendente, giat... in any language, enterprising is the word to use when describing Kiwi Scott Cardwell’s bid to tear down the language barrier for travellers.
The 28 year old is developing a virtual reality, language-learning app called ImmerseMe, which has caught the eye of NZ Travel Brokers.
Dunedinite Cardwell recently returned from two months of travelling around 10 countries in Europe, Japan, China and Indonesia, where he and videographer Tim Armstrong filmed scenarios such as ordering off a menu for

After 24 years in the travel industry, industry stalwart Alka Thapar is pulling up anchor and heading to greener pastures. Where this maybe, she isn’t really sure, but she says it’s time for a break.
For the past two years, Thapar has been business development manager for Princess Cruises. In her varied industry roles, she has made many great friends and some of them were on the Emerald Princess yesterday to say good-bye.
‘I am sad to go – but it is time. It has been a humbling experience to be able to work with such great people in this industry and hugs all round. The varied personalities I have met during my time have certainly kept things interesting and never boring.’

A little over 25 years ago Bruce Poon Tip arrived home from Thailand disappointed with his first package tour. Knowing he could do a better job, a young Poon Tip set out to fill a gap in the market between all-inclusive bus tours and backpacking, financing his idea with whoever would believe in him, namely Visa.

Now, a mere 25 years later, Poon Tip is the owner of the world’s largest adventure tourism company and author of the best selling book Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business.

G Adventures celebrated its 25^th anniversary in December last year, and to mark the occasion launched numerous projects proving game changers for the face of adventure tourism.