Airtours is to restructure its management team following the departure of Airtours UKLeisure Group director of development and distribution and Going Places chairman Tony Bennett.
Bennett said the decision to leave was mutual as there was no longer a suitable job for him at the group. The management restructure will be announced next week.
“My work at Going Places is largely complete and I have had a marvellous four years,” said Bennett. “I would have stayed at the group if another suitable position had come up, but there wasn’t one.
“The reality is that our distribution policy has to be co-ordinated through Going Places and I wouldn’t be in favour of creating an unnecessary overhead with a separate division for me to run.”
Bennett has been working on the franchise deal with Advantage over the last 12 months and developing the new Matchmaker technology for Going Places.
He was originally planning to go to work at Airtours’ Canadian operation but was seconded to work on the Advantage deal.
Bennett will be on 12 months’ notice, during which time he will do various projects for the group.
He said he would like to stay in the travel industry and not necessarily with a large company and denied rumours that he would be joining rival Lunn Poly.
“I haven’t even had a conversation with the company,” he said.
UKLG chairman Lars Thuesen paid tribute to Bennett, saying he had achieved excellent results for the group.