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Saga recruits Linfoot to expand tour operations
Lucy Huxley
lucy.huxley@
travelweekly.co.uk
Saga Group has appointed Jeannette Linfoot, former managing director of Tui’s emerging markets division, as managing director of its tour operating divisions to spearhead growth.
Linfoot will join Saga on December 1, taking responsibility for Saga Holidays; Titan Travel, which Saga acquired in 2009; and Destinology, which it bought in August 2014.
Saga Holidays began selling
through the trade this time last year. Linfoot said the new role,
reporting to Saga Travel chief executive Andrew Strong, had been created to capitalise on “the huge growth potential of Saga’s travel businesses”. She said: “Saga underwent
an initial public offering really successfully last year and it is now looking to grow quite extensively across the group. I am delighted to be joining at such an exciting time. “The over-50s sector is growing and this is a great opportunity to tap into this market.
“With fantastic, diverse brands including Saga Holidays, Titan and Destinology – and serving such a discerning and growing population – great opportunities lie ahead. “This is a new strategic role to
drive all three businesses forward.” The heads of Saga Holidays,
Titan Travel and Destinology will report to Linfoot. All sales and operations functions will report to her, with marketing staff still reporting to a chief marketing officer as well as to Linfoot.
Linfoot said her role would
enable Strong, who oversees financial services as well as travel, to devote more time to the retirement villages Saga has planned for the UK. Strong said: “This is an exciting
time for Saga Travel, with our ambitious plans for growth. I am delighted that we have attracted someone of Jeannette’s calibre to join us to drive the strategic development of our tour operations.”
Jeannette Linfoot will join Saga Group on December 1
5 Greek hotels fury at room-tax cheats
Lee Hayhurst
lee.hayhurst@travelweekly.co.uk
Hotel operators in Greece faced with a hike in VAT are demanding a crackdown on hospitality businesses that avoid tax by marketing through sharing websites such as Airbnb.
The rise in VAT on restaurants
and hotels to 13% came in on October 1 as part of the country’s attempts to deal with its huge debt. Greek Tourism Confederation SETE has urged hoteliers to absorb
the tax rise rather than increase prices, but is seeking government action against rental-property owners who fail to pay tax. It also wants help for hoteliers
to allow them to invest in their properties either through other tax breaks or an easing of regulatory restrictions on expansion. Speaking ahead of next week’s
Travel Convention in Costa Navarino, Greece, SETE chairman Dr Andreas Andreadis said: “We have to overcome the VAT issue. It would be a strategic mistake to pass the rise on to the customer.”
6
travelweekly.co.uk 8 October 2015
“We have to overcome the VAT issue. It would be a strategic mistake to pass the rise on”
Andreadis said SETE had brought
in accountancy firm KPMG to identify property owners on Airbnb who were likely to be operating illegally by not paying tax. “The key is to force everyone to
comply with tax rules,” he said. At last year’s Travel Convention,
Abta chairman Noel Josephides used his closing address to take a swipe at the “sharing economy”. He said this “online revolution”
would not leave any business model in travel unchanged. “This is the rise of what we call the sharing economy – another name for the growth of the black economy, but presented in a clever and sympathetic way,” he said. He said the likes of Airbnb had provided a platform that allowed
the black market to grow. › Greece: Destinations, page 62 › ‘Golden future ahead’, page 80
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