Travelzest group distribution director Nishma Robb has stepped down as part of a major restructuring of the company’s UK arm that will see the closure of four of its seven offices.
Robb, who was previously managing director of Teletext Holidays, will remain on the board and an employee of the company until January 31 2010.
In a statement, the company said the restructure will provide a “much needed strategic refocus on retail distribution, product and sales operations”.
It said: “Summer trading was slightly behind expectations; however, we continue to see improvements in operational efficiencies that we believe will provide stronger operational results going forward.”
The company said it anticipated underlying trading for the year ended October 31 “to be in line with its expectations”.
The restructuring is expected to result in substantial cost savings in the UK but, according to a company spokeswoman, the scale of job losses resulting from the office closures had yet to be decided.
At group level, Travelzest’s tour and retail operations have been merged and it said it was pursuing a new retail distribution strategy that would expand the market presence of its brands and products. To do this it has created four new positions that will report to the chief executive Jonathan Carroll and the chief executive director Jack Fraser.
The previous vice-president of marketing of Canadian online holiday portal itravel2000, Stuart Morris, has been appointed group vice-president of marketing for the Canadian and UK Operations. He will also lead the redevelopment of Travelzest’s retail distribution in the UK market.
Nick Wrightman, previously general manager of Turkey tour operator Tapestry Collection, has been appointed vice-president of product (UK Operations).
Steve Diederich, previously managing director of tour operator Best of Morocco/Faraway Holidays has been appointed vice-president of sales operations (UK Operations). In his new role, Diederich will be tasked with strengthening Travelzest’s UK customer service offering.
Jonathan Blizzard, previously general manager of JMB and WOW House, has been appointed general manager (UK Operations) where he will aim to improve the overall efficiency of operations in the UK as product, sales and distribution functions are unified.