Advantage Travel Partnership has announced the appointment of Emily Shannon to the position of business development manager for the central region.

Shannon, who joins Advantage having previously held roles at Thomas Cook and G Adventures, has 15 years of experience in the travel sector.

In her role as business development manager, she will report to David Moon, the company’s head of business development, and will be responsible for Advantage travel agent members across the central region, as well as looking to recruit new members.

Moon said: “We are delighted to welcome Emily to the team. She has a great deal of frontline experience, both in selling travel and managing retail travel agencies.

“This experience will be a valuable resource for our existing members, as they look to rebuild their businesses. Emily also has a strong background in business development from her time at Flexibletrips and G Adventures, which will serve us well as we seek to recruit new members in this important region.”

Leisure director Kelly Cookes added: “During the height of the pandemic we clearly had to scale back resources. Now that we are in recovery and the market is improving, we are bolstering the team.

“Emily’s appointment means we now have two business development managers, and we currently have a vacancy for a third. We hope to fill this position in the very near future, which will then bring the business development team to a total of six.

“Having a member-facing team with a blend of the necessary skills and experience to continually add value to our members is at the core of our membership proposition and what we are aiming to achieve over the coming months through our recruitment plans.”