TRAIN-operating company First Great Western has re-established a travel trade sales team after a break of two years.
The company has set up a three-strong team with the aim of increasing the proportion of its sales made by travel agents from 13% last year to 15% in 2000.
Sales and distribution manager Elaine Holt, who was previously head of sales at Galileo, said: “The reason the last team disappeared was that the rail industry didn’t understand the importance of the travel trade to making sales. We have been looking at distribution and we think the trade is necessary to our strategy.”
She pointed out that the new electronic-booking system Elgar had made it much easier for agents to book rail tickets.
First Great Western’s new travel trade team is headed by the company’s existing corporate sales manager Leanne Masterton.
P&O Portsmouth’s former agency and ITX sales manager Stephen Hobday has been poached to become travel trade account manager. And Matt Jakeman has been transferred internally to take the post of travel trade account executive.