Wendy Wu has confirmed the appointment of Liz Ryan as business development manager for the north west England and West Midlands.
The appointment to the new, expanded role follows the departure of Philippa Baines at the end of last year.
It comes after an increase in sales through travel agents, particularly in the north west and the Midlands, which has meant the role is taken on a bigger remit than in the past.
Ryan, who joined at the end of 2017, previously held senior business development roles for companies including Saga Holidays and Travelsupermarket.com.
She is responsible for developing and managing relationships with key agency partners including Travel Club Elite and Aspen Travel as well as increasing awareness of Wendy Wu’s portfolio of escorted tours, tailormade and specialist group products for travel in Asia and its new South America programme.
Ryan said: “I am very excited to be at Wendy Wu. Agents are absolutely pivotal to the success of Wendy Wu, evident by the growth in agency sales in the last 12 months and notably since the launch of the agents’ bookable website last summer.”
She added: “Agents can expect a lot of new developments and new products from Wendy Wu throughout 2018 including the continuation of our free business class upgrades, a value added offer which really benefits our agents.”
John Warr, Wendy Wu’s global sales director, said: “We are thrilled to have Liz on board. Not only does Liz have an admirable and proven track record in business development but also has a huge passion for Wendy Wu Tours and how we travel. In the time that Liz has been with us I’ve seen exceptional growth from our agent partners in the north west and Midlands, all testament to Liz’s expertise and exceptional bond with her agency clients.”
The company has four business development managers covering the UK in total. The other BDMs cover eastern England and the east Midlands; southern England: and Ireland and Scotland.
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