Ten new staff are being recruited by Western & Oriental after the departure of senior figures in a management shake-up.
Six additional sales staff – an increase of 15% – are being recruited as well as two dedicated trade sales managers and two new members of the e-commerce team.
Five of the sales positions will be based at the operator’s Farringdon offices in London and one at subsidiary Regent Holidays’ offices in Bristol. Western & Oriental also runs Rainbow Tours.
The two trade sales managers will have their responsibilities split between the north and south of the country to allow agents a more frequent interface with the company, a statement said.
The new structure follows the imminent departure of head of trade sales Steve O’Loughlin at the end of the year and the leaving of head of marketing Sarah Mason. Owner Raj Kumar assumed the role of managing director and chairman after former boss Kerry Golds also left the company.
Kumar said: “Over the next few months we will be launching our programmes for 2013 to the trade; Western & Oriental’s Beaches & Retreats, Worldwide Families and Luxury India as well as several new programmes from Rainbow Tours (Latin America and Africa & Madagascar) and Regent Holidays (Iceland & Greenland and Russia, Eastern Europe and Alternative Far East), with many new destinations being added.
“Our product teams have been working hard to expand the choices across all these areas and this recruitment is key for our planned growth. This year we have already added a number of new destinations including Jordan and Burma.”
The company also unveiled an incentive programme which agents can sign up to and receive regular email updates on offers. Current offers include Love2shop gift vouchers as well as the chance to win Oxygen Facials for Anassa Cyprus bookings or tickets to the Manchester derby football match for Abu Dhabi bookings using Etihad flights.