Inside Travel Group trade manager Matt Spiller is to leave after 14 years with the group.
He is joining Small Luxury Hotels of the World as trade marketing and community manager.
Spiller joined Inside Travel Group, parent company of InsideJapan and InsideAsia Tours, as its only trade-facing consultant in 2009. He became trade manager in 2013, playing a key role in the company’s trade sales growth.
During the last 14 years, the group’s travel agency sales have grown from around £250,000 to more than £8 million a year.
Spiller, who leaves this week, said: “When I joined InsideJapan, I never thought I would be there for the next 14 years. It is a special company full of incredibly talented people and I am grateful to [directors] Alastair [Donnelly] and Simon [King] for letting me be part of its phenomenal growth. I am immensely proud of what we have done together at InsideJapan and Inside Travel Group.
“It was once a hard sell for many agents, but Japan has very much become a top destination and we are a firm ‘go-to’ suppliers for many of the UK’s top travel agents.”
He said it was now time for him to move on, adding: “I have loved my time at Inside Travel Group, but after 14 years, it is time for a new challenge. I am excited to be joining the Small Luxury Hotels team in London and can’t wait to assist in strengthening their trade community relationships.”
Company co-founder and directors Alastair Donnelly and Simon King stressed that the group, which recently introduced Thailand, Malaysia and new cultural adventure trips in South Korea to its portfolio, remained fully committed to the trade.
King said: “Although we are sad to see Matt go, he has done an incredible job over the years, built some great relationships and helped establish us as a trade favourite. We look to invest in our travel trade team immediately with travel agent partners remaining an essential pillar of Inside Travel Group’s growth strategy.”
Inside Travel Group has been enjoying its busiest cherry blossom season ever after Japan’s reopening after two and a half of year of closed borders due the pandemic.
The group is now recruiting for a new trade manager to oversee the next phase in the company’s growth and said it would continue to grow the trade team in the UK.