The latest industry appointments

Darren Barker has been named general manager of UK at Emirates Holidays. Barker will run day-to-day operations at Emirates Holidays in the UK and succeeds Fabio Prestijacopo who is now VP business support for Emirates’ Destination and Leisure Management division in Dubai. Barker joins the tour operator from Orbitz Worldwide where he was director of distribution.

Cherrie Osborne has been promoted to director of tourism UK and Europe at the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. Osborne joined the tourism authority in 2006 and has been working as sales and marketing manager there since 2009.

Joanne Briggs has joined the Global Travel Group as sales and business development manager for the south region. She will be responsible for strengthening the company’s relationships with agents in the region and developing new accounts. She has experience with Dawson & Sanderson and LunnPoly.

Carly Charteris has been made business development manager at Premier Holidays. Charteris was previously business development manager at Global Travel Group. She joins Premier to develop agent relations and drive national sales.

Patrick Ryan has been appointed director of sales EMEA and India at Rocky Mountaineer. Ryan will be responsible for all sales aspect in the regions including travel agents and tour operators. He replaces Leslie Peden who has relocated to establish an office in Orlando. Ryan has previously worked for Island Cruises and Royal Caribbean brands.

Audrey Singh has been named business development manager for Sandals and Beaches in the south east of England. Singh will be responsible for growing new and existing business in London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex for the resort brands. She has previously worked for Hoseasons, Going Places, Co-op Travel, Hays Travel and Miles Travel.

Amanda George has joined Newmarket Holidays as regional charter manager. George previously spent 13 years at Humberside Airport where she was most recently head of travel sales. She will now work with Alison Keeble to develop its charter programme.

Jo Layton has been named managing director – group commercial sales at The Apartment Service. Layton will initially develop the company new Alliance brand in her new role as well as developing its agency, network and Room Space brands. She joins from BridgeStreet where she was responsible for sales and marketing EMEA and APAC.

David Sanders has been appointed head of media and public relations at Princess Cruises. He previously has worked at Peveral Retirement, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the Civil Aviation Authority and joins the cruise line on 13 Jan. Suzanne Korff will join Princess on 20 Jan, as head of marketing communications. Korff joins Princess from Sandals Resorts UK where she was head of marketing.

Nicolas Pesty has joined Sofitel London St James as general manager. Pesty was previously in charge of guest experience for Sofitel Americas since 2011 and first joined Accor in 1991 at Sofitel Houston. His roles have covered the US and France.

Neil Palomba has become senior vice president hotel operations and guest experience at Costa Cruises. Palomba has taken on the newly-created role after 17 years at MSC. From 2006 Palomba was MSC’s chief operating officer.

Goh Kuan Tan has been named director of acquisition marketing at onefinestay. Tan joins the ‘unhotel’ from Hotels.com were he led the global search marketing team as interim VP, global paid search. He has also previously led projects at the Boston Consulting Group and Monitor Group.