JUNE 2018 PAGE 26
GLOBAL VILLAGE
Inside the Travel Business
ITAA
has written to the Commission of Aviation Regulation re illegal trading. At the moment the association has four cases they are seeking answers for.
CLICK&GO , employing 58, is celebrating its eighth birthday tomorrow. Cofounder Paul Hackett said it’s celebrating with eight days of flash sales and added that the company, which has been the official holiday partner of Aer Lingus since 2011, is now set to take over FlyShannon.ie. CRUISE ship visits in recent weeks
included MSC Meraviglia, Queen Victoria, Silver Muse, Royal Princess, Independence of the Seas, Viking Sun and Holland America’s MS Zuiderdam
JOSE RAMOS Tributes poured in for Jose Ramos who passed away He was Director of the Portuguese Tourist Board in Dublin from 2005 to 2013 and a great friend of the Irish travel trade. Travel partners remembered his kindness, and all the moments of crack over the years. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.
ITAA CEO Pat Dawson, ITAA President John Cassidy and Jean Maxwell of the ITAA
Philly filling up
SELECTIVE Travel Management won an Aer Lingus excellence award in London. TUI has appointed former head of Ireland Helen Caronas its new hotel purchasing director. She takes up the role, which includes a position on the Group Tourism Board with immediate effect, reporting into TUI CEO Northern Region David Burling.
BLUE Elaine Harding of the Garda Holiday Club is the April finalist of the Blue Insurances monthly competition to win a car. AIB In-travel insurance was activated in 170 countries from Aruba to Zimbabwe.
TURKISH Airlines and Cricket Ireland quiz for two business class tickets to anywhere on the Turkish Airlines network won by Patricia MacDonough from Malahide TOPFLIGHT’s final winner in their travel agent incentive was Kerry McCarthy from Lee Travel who won a holiday to the four star Majestic Palace in Malcesine, Lake Garda. Previous three winners were Sonia Fitzpatrick from Timoney Travel, Anna May Gannon from East West Travel and Lorraine Fuller from J Barter Travel.
CONOR Deane, ex Sunaer, Inbound and Aer Lingus holidays has died. HAINAN have appointed Ryan Zhang
as Country Manager Ireland, Hainan Airlines launched a 4w service Beijing-Dublin from June 12 with A330-300.
FLYAWAY Pamela Brownlee, MD
of Ballina’s Fly Away Travel and Cruises for You said she is changing her business model, getting out of bricks-and-mortar retail. She said the company is “changing to a more bespoke business model that will allow them to provide a more tailor-made service for their clients”.
TRAVEL FOCUS Lynn Demp-
sey of Newbridge Travel won a holiday for two
T
Places fill for ITAA Conference in November
he ITAA conference in the x Philadelphia Marriott Downtown in November has nearly reached its maximum of 120 places. Julie Coker Graham of Philadelphia CVB publicly welcomed the decision to the ITAA to hold their conference in the USA for the first time at a press conference at IPW in Denver as did Joseph Messina of
Philadelphia airport. Christopher Thompson, CEO of Brand USA, who was born in Philadelphia, told Travel Extra of her personal pride in bringing the Irish travel agents to Philly. American Airlines and Aer Lingus are to offer capacity with attractive add ons from American Airlines. Many of the delegates have al-
ready decided to extend their stay. Some are going cruising from Miami, others are skiing in the Rockies while others are engaged in family visits . Some ground arrangements are still to be finalised. The conference in Philadelphia was secured by Greg Evans, a great supporter of the Irish trade.
MSC UPGRADES IRISH SALES OPERATION
R
ebecca Kelly has been promoted to Head of Ireland at MSC Cruises. The move marks an upgrade of the status of MSC in Ireland to ful lcountry status. The MSC team has been boosted following record sales last year with the addition
of Alana Byrne from Newbridge Travel. Kelly has worked for MSC in Ireland for 10 years and has been instrumental in building the brand into one of the top two I market leading cruise lines, competing with Royal Caribbean. She will re-port to Steve Williams Director of
Sales in London. Antonio Paradiso, said “she has always been a great ambassador for our brand and has gone from strength to strength in her journey with MSC Cruise. Her passion and commitment to MSC is exceptional.”
Rebecca Kelly
TRAVEL CENTRES CONFERENCE
T
ravel Centres 2018 conference is open for registration. The event takes place in Fota Island resort just outside Cork on November 9th & 10th. Agency staff wishing to attend the Gala Dinner
and Awards on Saturday night pay €29 but must have participated in the workshop sessions during the day. Dominic Burke says: This year, iwe have decided to introduce several changes which we hope
will enhance the conference experi-ence for all concerned. The programme timetable on both days has been shortened with later start times in order to facilitate delegates getting to the venue on the actual day and thus negat-
ing, in many instances, the cost of an additional overnight. Lunch menus on both days have also been reduced to one, rather than two courses as many of you felt that the larger meals were too heavy and