Following recent news of further investment into its trade-facing team, APT & Travelmarvel is delighted to announce the appointment of three new Business Development Managers (BDMs), for its Central, Northern, and Irish sales regions.

Following the internal promotion of Robin Griffiths to National Account Manager, the role of BDM Central has been filled by Leiza Sullivan. With a decade of industry experience – the last five years spent as BDM for Avalon River Cruises – Sullivan combines insight and expertise with personality and passion, making her a perfect addition to the APT family. Tasked with building relationships with key trade partners in The Midlands, identifying new business opportunities, managing third-party retail accounts, and delivering engaging training for local agents, Sullivan will hit the ground running from 1 March 2024.

With growing ambitions for its flexible, four-star sister brand, Travelmarvel, in Ireland, APT also welcomes Elaine O’Brien to the sales team; its first dedicated BDM on the Emerald Isle. Having been instrumental in building awareness of Travelmarvel and its European offering amongst local agents over the last six months, O’Brien has a proven track record, backed up by 30 years of experience, and 12 years running TheTravelShop.ie and TheCruiseShop.ie. Ireland is a key market in the operator’s plans for growth, and Travelmarvel’s Contemporary Ships offer agents the best value river cruises anywhere in Europe, and quality that is consistently rated five-stars on Trustpilot.

APT & Travelmarvel has also made an exciting new hire for the role of BDM North England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The new team member will complete the operator’s agent-facing sales team and be announced soon.

When APT & Travelmarvel Head of Sales & Business Development, Brad Bennetts, joined the company two years ago, he was challenged with creating the industry’s best sales team. Strategic, dynamic and well-connected, Bennetts quickly delivered, driving a campaign that has elevated the quality and efficiency of APT’s trade support. Always agent-first, APT’s investment has grown the sales support team to its largest ever size and demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to its valued partners now, and for the long term.

“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.”