APT & Travelmarvel has appointed Leiza Sullivan as business development manager for central England and Elaine O’Brien as BDM for Travelmarvel in Ireland

The appointments come as the river cruise and touring specialist looks to bolster its agent support network. The firm will also soon announce a new BDM for north England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

At the start of the year, APT promoted Robin Griffiths to national account manager, with Sullivan being brought in to fill his previous role as BDM central.

With a decade of industry experience – the last five years spent as BDM for Avalon River Cruises – Sullivan is tasked with building relationships with key trade partners in the midlands, identifying new business opportunities, managing third-party retail accounts and delivering training for agents.

With growing ambitions for its sister brand Travelmarvel in Ireland, APT recruited O’Brien as its first dedicated BDM in the country. She has 30 years of experience in the industry, 12 of which running TheTravelShop.ie and TheCruiseShop.ie.

APT ‘confident’ it has built ‘the best sales team in the market’

“We are thrilled to welcome Leiza and Elaine to the APT & Travelmarvel family, and to unveil our third new BDM hire soon,” said Bennetts. “We worked hard to find the perfect candidates to deliver the professionalism, energy and support that will help our trade partners to thrive.

“Our goal was to create the best sales team in the market; with these expert BDMs in place, and the support of our call centre, marketing and design experts, I can confidently say that we have achieved just that. We are committed to delivering a service to the trade that is every bit as good as the quality of our holidays.”