Home » News » Flavour of the week: Topdeck gets new APAC head of sales, JNTO’s fresh exec + MORE

5 July, 2019

Flavour of the week: Topdeck gets new APAC head of sales, JNTO’s fresh exec + MORE

By Alexandra Coulton

Here’s the latest movers and shakers in the travel industry. As in those who have new roles – not epic dance moves.

Topdeck Travel announces Kathy Clifford as new APAC head of sales

Topdeck Travel have announced the appointment of Kathy Clifford to head of APAC sales from 8^th July.

Clifford joins the Topdeck team from Flight Centre, where she was the destination owner for The Americas, leading Flight Centre’s destination strategy, procurement, training and stakeholder engagement managing key partnership activity.

Clifford has had an impressive ten-year career in the travel and touring sector, beginning her journey with Flight Centre Travel Group as an Assistant Manager to the Customer Assistance Team in 2008. Since then, Clifford has risen through the ranks, playing a pivotal role in determining and implementing campaign and sales strategies and delivering product to market plans for the travel company.

JNTO welcomes new executive director to Sydney

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Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) has appointed Yoko Tanaka as the new Executive Director of its Sydney Office.

Yoko has been appointed to further build on the recent successes of JNTO’s Sydney office, which encouraged more than half a million Australian tourists to visit Japan last year, a new record.

South African Airways regional role for Tim Clyde-Smith

South African Airways has announced that following the departure of Gcobani Mancotywa from SAA, Tim Clyde-Smith will be taking on the role of regional general manager – Asia Pacific, commencing 1 July, 2019.

Mr Clyde-Smith has been the Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand for 7 years and will continue to be based out of SAA’s office in Sydney.

Kiichi Okabe Joins Soneva Jani as grand masterchef

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Soneva, the world-leading luxury resort operator, announces that Soneva Jani has recently hired Chef Kiichi Okabe, a Japanese chef, in the role of grand masterchef. Before joining Soneva Jani full time, Chef Okabe was the Executive Chef of Shoukouwa, which earned two Michelin stars in 2016. He also spent time as Okku’s Head Chef, in Dubai. Later in 2018, Chef Okabe opened Sushi Ryu in Kuala Lumpur, which he also owns.

Chef Okabe currently hosts private dining experiences at So Imaginative, the private celebration room at Soneva Jani for 20 people, where his menu fuses Japanese delicacies with Maldivian ingredients. Diners can expect dishes like baked Indian Ocean toothfish marinated in Saikyo miso from Kyoto, Japan and raw shrimp from Hokkaido with yuzu flavoured seaweed and Soneva caviar.

RCL Cruises’ Peter McCormack to retire after 46 years in the industry

After an amazing career in both Australia and the USA, Peter McCormack has announced his plans to retire from his position as Head of Sales at RCL Cruises Australia and New Zealand at the end of July. An integral leader of the sales team since RCL Cruises opened its Sydney office over 10 years ago, and a true industry icon, Peter will be sorely missed by all his colleagues.

Peter has been an instrumental part of the team throughout his time, and his commitment to the growth and success of the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara brands has helped set the company up for success as they go forward. He has forged fantastic relationships with both trade partners and colleagues alike which will have a lasting impact.

The team at RCL Cruises wish Peter nothing but happiness for the future.

Amadeus appoints Nadia Yahiaoui to head of corporations for Asia Pacific

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Amadeus has appointed Nadia Yahiaoui to head Corporations for Asia Pacific, effective immediately. With the corporate segment identified as one of Travel Channels’ strategic priorities and the APAC region outpacing the rest of the world in terms of business travel spend, Nadia will work on increasing Amadeus’ regional footprint.

By addressing the needs of the corporate buyer with a portfolio of business travel technology solutions including self-booking tool, expense management and duty of care, Nadia and her team will help APAC based corporations better manage business travel and expense. The newly appointed leader will be based in Singapore and report into Arlene Coyle, Senior Vice President Commercial, Corporations, Travel Channels, Amadeus.

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