Arabian Travel Market (ATM), part of the World Travel Market portfolio, has boosted its executive team with a new Portfolio Head of Marketing, who has a wealth of travel industry experience.
Jeannette Gilbert joins from her role as Head of Marketing at Fastjet – the rapidly growing new low-cost airline in Africa. She has also previously worked at Celebrity Cruises and will run marketing across all events in the World Travel Market portfolio including; WTM London, ATM, WTM Latin America and WTM Africa.
Gilbert said: “I am delighted to join such a respected, well-known global brand, and to work with a team of seasoned travel industry professionals.
“It’s an exciting time to come on board, as the WTM Portfolio is set to smash last year’s achievement of $7 billion worldwide industry deals.
“There were impressive rises in visitor numbers at recent 2017 events: WTM Latin America, WTM Africa and Arabian Travel Market.
“I look forward to helping WTM London maintain that momentum. WTM London generated a record £2.8 billion in industry deals last November and this year it looks set to break yet more records.”
WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press added: “I am very pleased to welcome Jeannette to our team. An executive of her calibre will be a great asset as the WTM events around the world go from strength to strength.
“We pride ourselves on having highly regarded experts in each department and she has a very impressive marketing background.
“We also have strength in depth when it comes to travel industry experience and networks, which means we have unrivalled expertise and connections in our sector.”
Gilbert joins a team of accomplished travel industry veterans, and her expertise will further cement the wealth of travel trade knowledge and experience in the WTM portfolio and parent company Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE).
Her appointment follows that of Jonathan Hull – Portfolio Head of Sales, WTM – who joined a year ago, after 11 years at Virgin Atlantic.
Jeannette reports to Nick Pilbeam, RTE, Director, who has more than 17 years of FTSE 100 experience in the travel industry with British Airways, Iberia and Avios. Another key colleague in the marketing team is Carrie Lee – WTM London and ATM Marketing Manager – who joined the company a year ago after 11 years with Flight Centre.
WTM Latin America Marketing Manager Thais Del Ben has previously worked for both EMBRATUR – the Brazilian Tourism Board – and Braztoa – the Brazilian Association of Tour Operators. Furthermore, WTM Portfolio Press & PR Manager Paul Nelson, spent seven years at travel trade publication Travel Weekly before managing PR at lastminute.com, looking after travel industry brands including lastminute.com, Travelocity, Holiday Autos and Medhotels.
Travel industry experts at WTM London:
- Jeannette Gilbert, Portfolio Head of Marketing, WTM:
Previously Head of Marketing at Fastjet; On-board Marketing Manager at Celebrity Cruises; and Head of Marketing and Marketing Manager at Whitbread PLC.
She was named in Hot Topics magazine as one of the top 50 most influential travel and hospitality marketers in EMAEA & APAC for brand development, social media and digital marketing in 2016. - Jonathan Hull, Portfolio Head of Sales, WTM:
Previously at Virgin Atlantic for 11 years, including sales roles in the Caribbean and as Country Manager in Kenya, plus Head of Corporate Sales. - Nick Pilbeam, Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions:
He joined RTE in January 2015, after six years with Avios, the mileage reward programme established by British Airways and Iberia. He worked for BA in various management roles between 2001 and 2008. - Carrie Lee, Marketing Manager, WTM London and Arabian Travel Market:
Joined WTM in 2016 after holding several sales and marketing roles at Flight Centre since 2006. - Thais Del Ben, Marketing Manager, WTM Latin America:
Before joining WTM Latin America in 2013, Thais worked for four years at EMBRATUR – the Brazilian Tourism Board – as marketing analyst. She has also worked for Braztoa – the Brazilian Association of Tour Operators. - Paul Nelson, Portfolio Press & PR Manager, WTM:
He started his travel career in 2003 as a journalist with Travel Weekly, then was PR & Internal Communications Manager at the lastminute.com Group.
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About World Travel Market
World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises of five leading B2B events across four continents generating more than $7bn of industry deals. The five events are;
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Around 51,500 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media embark on ExCeL – London every November generating around £2.8 billion of travel industry contracts. http://london.wtm.com/. Next event: 6-8 Nov 2017 – London.
International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) now in its 20th edition, is the meeting place for the global B2B golf travel community. More than 600 golf tourism suppliers join 350 pre-qualified buyers and 100 international press for four days of unmissable pre-scheduled appointments, exclusive networking opportunities and invaluable industry and trend updates. Taking place in a different destination every year, IGTM brings together 1,400 golf tourism professionals from over 65 countries. http://igtm.wtm.com/. Next event: 11-14 Dec 2017 – Cannes.
World Travel Market Latin America now in its fifth edition attracts about 9,000 unique senior executives. The event generates US$ 370 million of new business. Taking place in Sao Paulo Brazil, this show attracts a global audience to meet and shape the direction of the travel industry. More than 7,000 unique visitors attend the event to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry news. http://latinamerica.wtm.com/. Next event: 3-5 April 2018 – Sao Paulo.
World Travel Market Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 5,000 travel industry professionals attend Africa’s leading inbound and outbound travel and tourism market. WTM Africa delivers a proven mix of hosted buyers, media, pre-scheduled appointments, on-site networking, evening functions and invited travel trade visitors. http://africa.wtm.com/. Next event: 18-20 April 2018 – Cape Town.
About Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the leading, international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2017 attracted almost 40,000 industry professionals, agreeing deals worth US$2.5bn over the four days. The 24th edition of ATM showcased over 2,500 exhibiting companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre, making it the largest ATM in its 24-year history. www.arabiantravelmarketwtm.com Next event 22-25 April 2018 – Dubai.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events business, enhancing the power of face to face through data and digital tools at over 500 events a year, in more than 30 countries, attracting more than 7m participants.
About Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions is the world’s leading travel and tourism event’s organiser with a growing portfolio of more than 22 international travel and tourism trade events in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Our events are market leaders in their sectors, whether it is global and regional leisure travel trade events, or specialist events for meetings, incentives, conference, events (MICE) industry, business travel, luxury travel, travel technology as well as golf, spa and ski travel. We have over 35 years’ experience in organising world-leading travel exhibitions.