PinT – People-in-Travel

A monthly report that tracks leaders in the travel business. What they said, what they did, what they must do. Unusually frank and detailed.

As this is a subscription report, the following is not the current edition.

Chen Feng arrested

Briefs

[] Chen Feng, chairman of China’s troubled HNA Group, and Adam Tan, CEO, have been arrested in China. As this is China, the charges against the two are not yet known.

  Tan is believed to be a US citizen.

[] Jens Thraenhart has been named CEO of Barbados Tourism Marketing. He resigned in June as executive director at the fractious MTCO*, after seven years there.

  He made what should be a hard job, look easy. He should have been CEO, but the six would never accept that. Depending on who takes over, there must be a chance that MTCO will disband before end-2021.

  Before MTCO Thraenhart was in Beijing as co-founder and president of Dragon Trail, a marketing operation for marketing in China.

*Notes: MTCO = Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. A sub-regional travel promotional body. Members Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam.

[] WTACH (World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage) names Chris Flynn executive chairman and Nigel Fell President/CEO. Flynn, based in Australia, was CEO (and is WTACH’s founder); Fell, based in the UK, chief commercial officer.

Notes:

-WTACH, based in Australia, was established in 2018. It is a sort-of cultural WTO.

-WTO – World Tourism Organization, which it abbreviates to UNWTO – is a Spain-based UN-designated lobbying body for the travel business.

[] Tim Jordan plans to launch Bonza, a would-be no-frills-airline in Australia. He has worked at Virgin Blue (Virgin Australia’s first name), Cebu Pacific, and Fly Arystan in Kazakhstan.

Notes: A full report on this topic in our W.Y.S.K:What-You-Should-Know monthly-report contains some important additional information, qualification, and analysis.

[] Mike Van de Ven named president of Southwest Airlines, after retirement of Tom Nealon. Earlier it was announced that EVP Bob Jordan would become CEO in February 1, when Gary Kelly is due to leave.

[] Dan Tavrytzky, managing director at the DMC Network, plans to retire end-month. He has been in the job 10 years. Due to take over as interim MD is Jeremy Gardner, chairman.

Notes: DMCN is an association of DMCs, destination marketing companies.

Top at Best

Lawrence Cuculic has been named president and CEO at Best Western Hotels, due to take over next month. He replaces David Kong, who was due to retire end-2021, who joined BWH in 2001 and became CEO in 2004.

  Cuculic had been SVP and General Counsel (essentially the company’s lawyer) for BWH since 2009. Before that he had been in legal jobs for various companies, none in travel. Even when he was in the army, his posts were legal.

  Not so common is the mutual praise of the current and next CEO:

-Cuculic. “…I have had the great privilege of working alongside David Kong and witnessing the remarkable impact he has made on our company and the industry as a whole. I can only hope to live up to [his] legacy…”

-Kong. “I have worked alongside Larry for 12 years and have been continually inspired by his thoughtful leadership and strategic thinking. He is the right person to lead our organization through the recovery phase of the pandemic…”

#peopleintravel #travelbusiness #managementmoves

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