Maggie Bootsman has been appointed to lead the growth in the UAE of Travel Counsellors, the provider of bespoke leisure and corporate travel.

Maggie has many years’ experience in the travel industry having worked in Australia with Travelscene American Express for 8 years and for Sabre, Qantas, American Express and two domestic carriers in the region prior to that.

In Maggie’s most recent role as State Manager in Australia, she was responsible for the growth, recruitment and development of over 50 travel agencies in three states. She brings with her a wealth of sales and business development experience and an in-depth knowledge of both the agency and airline business.

Working alongside some key travel agencies in her region, Travelscene American Express saw excellent growth in sales, recruitment and retention during her tenure. During her 14 years with Sabre, Maggie was responsible for the start-up of the business in her region and experienced the fast-paced development of travel technology whilst retaining market share for the company.

Living in Dubai for the past four years, Maggie developed and operated a bespoke tour guide service for the Australian market, which has been extremely successful.

“The opportunity to work with Travel Counsellors was so exciting that I could not resist applying for the role and was delighted to be successful,” she said.

“Being able to work with like-minded professionals in a company that has such a great culture of caring and support for its customers is a perfect fit for me”.

The company has also announced the appointment of Jim Eastwood as Global Sales Director who has a wealth of sales and management experience for an array of well-known brands across the globe. He joins from Groupon, where he held several senior leadership roles, and was most recently the firm’s vice-president of sales for the UK and Ireland. In his five years at Groupon, he was instrumental in driving growth for the business, implementing and executing all aspects of sales strategies for leading countries in EMEA. He has a breadth of experience in global markets, having previously held positions across Europe as well as in Australia and the US

Jim also finished as runner-up on the seventh series of BBC reality show The Apprentice in 2011, with Lord Alan Sugar referring to him as ‘the world’s greatest salesman’.

In his new role, Jim will be responsible for driving Travel Counsellors’ leisure and corporate sales internationally, working across all areas of the company including marketing, business development and recruitment to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.

He said: “What attracted me to Travel Counsellors is its overwhelming commitment to customer service, and the personal relationships that Travel Counsellors develop with their client base. The business promotes a culture of caring not only externally, but for its people, giving them the tools to provide the best service possible.

“The business has demonstrated outstanding levels of growth in recent years, and I’m hoping to be a key component in continuing to drive this in the coming months.”