Grab yourself a coffee and catch up on today’s news in brief – the latest updates from the industry and everything you need to know in bite-size pieces.
New APAC hires for Hurtigruten Group
Hurtigruten Group has boosted its presence in the Asia-Pacific region with new key appointments across its sales, marketing, PR and customer service teams.
Kirsty Fruin joins the APAC commercial team as Regional Sales Manager (QLD, WA, SA) based in Brisbane. Emigrating from Scotland, Kirsty has accrued a wealth of cruise and travel knowledge through her previous roles, including in the UK at Fred Olsen Travel.
Experienced PR Christina Koullas joins the Group’s Melbourne office in the new position of PR & Communications Manager – APAC. Her 20+ years of travel PR experience include working with Spirit of Tasmania, DMCs in Europe and running her own PR agency where she consulted for Hurtigruten.
The Customer Service Centre in Melbourne expands with Briohny Black and Laura Lund joining as CSC Consultants to manage agent and consumer enquiries. Lund has worked for over a decade in retail management, accounts and customer resolution. Meanwhile, Black boasts 18 years in travel with tenures at APT and Captain’s Choice specialising in sales and tour consulting.
Two more additions to the Melbourne head office are Jemma Gormack, who brings her adventurous New Zealand spirit to the team, and Emily Coltman from the UK. In their new Marketing Executive roles, they will utilise their strong digital and marketing experience having previously worked across a range of industries.
International Rail’s new trade booking platform
International Rail’s new trade booking platform is now 100 per cent operational for all agents to access. The new state-of-the-art platform offers agents convenient and innovative features such as viewing and tracking bookings to keep up to date with the booking process, making credit card payments and accessing tickets all online and accelerating the process for agents.
Also available is the ability for agents to download a customer friendly PDF attachment with the train/ferry itinerary WITHOUT pricing or commission showing, to forward to clients to seek approval of the itinerary.
The platform has helped the business scale quickly in line with demand, growing from six to 26 local support team members and triple revenue growth over the last 18 months.
Ponant, Tauck & DriveAway have fun on NSW Central Coast
Ponant State Manager NSW & ACT, Kristina Sambaher, and Inside Sales Executive, Sandra Cahill, joined Helen Eves from Tauck and Susie Goumas from DriveAway for a fun-filled Paint & Sip evening with travel agents on the Central Coast, NSW.
The theme of the night was Europe and the Greek Islands and the presentations inspired some fabulous masterpieces. This was the first of three to be held this month in Sydney.
TOP IMAGE: Paint & Sip on the NSWQ Central Coast
