The Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers (Atas) has appointed Claire Brighton as account director.
Brighton will join Atas on March 9 from the Advantage Travel Partnership, where she has spent nine years as commercial account manager and most recently senior commercial manager. Prior to Advantage, she worked for Thomas Cook TV and TV Travel Shop.
Brighton will be responsible for supporting and growing the supplier, associate and agent membership of Atas and developing the association’s existing training and events portfolio.
Paul Melinis, chairman of Atas and UK & Ireland managing director of APT, said: “I am delighted that Claire is joining Atas. She brings strong account management skills and commercial awareness to the role and understands the expectations and requirements of both suppliers and agents within a membership organisation.”
He added: “Claire joins us at an exciting time as Atas enters its fourth year, and we look forward to welcoming her expertise and drive as we target further growth for the association and the touring and adventure sector in 2020.”
Read the latest touring and adventure news here
Brighton said: “I am very excited about joining Atas and look forward to meeting the members and as many agents as possible to explore what they would like to see from what is a relatively new organisation.
“The touring and adventure sector is full of innovation and has so much to offer, and Atas has a crucial role to play to ensure it is front-of-mind for agents and their customers.”
John Sullivan, head of commercial for the Advantage Travel Partnership, praised Brighton’s contribution to the agency group, and added: “While we are disappointed to lose Claire, we are delighted that she will be able to put her valuable experience gained here to good use in her new role.”
Atas was formed in April 2017 as a partnership between Travel Weekly and 12 leading suppliers in the touring and adventure sector.
Within three years, it had grown to more than 50 supplier and associate members in addition to a trade membership covering retail, home-based and online travel agents.
Atas is committed to growing awareness and sales of touring and adventure holidays through the travel trade and provides a single voice for the leading suppliers within the burgeoning touring and adventure sector. In addition to a standalone website and print and digital communications, its annual conference is attended by more than 350 delegates.
Read more about Atas here
Claire Brighton can be contacted from March 9 on claire.brighton@touringandadventure.com.