76 | TRADE NEWS
Familiar Face Appointed as Celebrity Cruises’ New Regional Sales Manager for Central England and Northern Ireland
PAULA McAreavey has been appointed as Sales Manager for Central England and Northern Ireland at Celebrity Cruises.
Having worked in the industry for over 15 years, Paula brings a wealth of experience to the role.
Paula started out her career in the travel industry as the Events Co- Ordinator at Northern Ireland Travel News before working her way up to the position of Events Manager. After a brief stint at Belfast One BID she then delved back into the travel industry and took up the role of Social Media & Marketing Manager/Travel Consultant at Terra Travel, Lurgan.
at Terra Travel who waved her off to
celebration.
A note from the Terra travel team on their instagram said: “We all want to wish her well for the new job and we’ll miss her so much in Lurgan.” Speaking about her new role, Paula
said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the Celebrity Cruises team and very excited to be representing such a fantastic premium cruise product. I can’t wait to get on the road and visit our trade partners here in Northern Ierland and Central England and to keep everyone up-to-date on the exciting things ahead for Celebrity Cruises.”
Constantinou Bros Hotels Expands UK Trade Team with Key Appointments
CONSTANTINOU Bros Hotels, renowned for its luxurious offerings across Cyprus, has announced significant updates to its UK trade team, highlighting the company’s continued investment in expanding its presence in the UK and Irish markets. The hospitality brand has promoted Mark Richardson to the role of Head of Sales for UK and Ireland and appointed Victoria McGlynn as the new Sales Manager – North.
The move follows a remarkable performance from the UK market, with the company seeing an impressive near 20% increase in bookings for 2025. Sales and Marketing Director, Alex Babic, emphasised the importance of strengthening relationships with the travel trade, noting that the addition of McGlynn to the team
will further bolster the company’s luxury market connections. Mark Richardson’s promotion to
Head of Sales UK and Ireland reflects his exceptional contributions to the company’s success over the years. With his new role, he will oversee the strategic direction of the company’s sales efforts, ensuring the continued growth of Constantinou Bros Hotels across both the UK and Irish markets. For travel agents and tour operators, this expansion signals increased support and focus from the company, particularly within the high-end luxury sector. With the enhanced team now in place, Constantinou Bros Hotels is poised to deliver even more tailored solutions and excellent service to its partners across the UK and Ireland.
Paula will be missed by her colleagues “pastures new” with a farewell
www.nitravelnews.com
September/October 2025
New ABTA Research Indicates Strong Public Support for Youth Mobility Scheme
ABTA and Seasonal Businesses in Travel (SBiT)
have revealed new research
showing strong public support for securing a youth experience deal with the EU, as it urges the government to press ahead with negotiations with the EU following May’s UK-EU Summit. A new survey, commissioned by ABTA with YouGov, found that 76% of Brits support a deal with the EU to enable young people to work, live, and study overseas for temporary periods. The poll found strong support amongst all voter types, with even 61% of those who voted to the leave the EU in 2016 in favour of a deal on youth mobility.
The associations say this matters for the health of the UK’s outbound travel sector, which brings more than £52bn a year in Gross Value Added to the UK economy, because many of the workers in the industry started their careers in temporary
government to prioritise several other travel-related areas in future talks with the EU, and notes that the polling found strong support for the economic benefits of closer relations with the EU – with 66% of respondents saying they believe a closer relationship would improve the UK economy. The survey also found majority support for general closer relations with the EU, with 57% in favour versus 12% who felt relations should be more distant. Luke Petherbridge, ABTA’s Director of Public Affairs, said: “We know that travel is one of the most noticeable areas that has been altered by the UK’s departure from the EU – with Brits now having to join different passport queues, and changes to the in-destination experience of UK holidaymakers as it has become harder for travel companies to hire get UK staff into Europe.” “We welcomed the UK-EU deal in May.
roles overseas and around two-thirds of all UK holidays overseas are taken within the EU annually.
Previous research by ABTA and SBiT, revealed over a third of all workers, and nearly half of industry leaders,
worked in
similar roles earlier in their careers. There has also been a notable fall in opportunities for young people to find these roles since the UK voted to leave the EU, with the number of UK nationals working in tourism support roles – such as travel reps, having fallen by 69% since then.
The bodies are also asking the
We now need to see progress on the items within the deal, such as enhanced use of egates and, importantly, restoring opportunities for young people from the UK to live and work in the EU, which often is the way people take their first steps into a career in travel. Securing these changes will help the industry to grow and to continue to be successful.” However, the association also says that the government must look to build on the UK-EU agreement in May, by developing further cooperation with the EU to benefit travellers and the industry. Luke Petherbridge, Director of Public Affairs, continued: “There are important changes to border arrangements being made by both sides currently, with the UK introducing our Electronic Travel Authority earlier this year, and the EU’s Entry/Exit System going live in October, to be followed by their own pre-travel authorisation system expected in 2026. These changes require ongoing attention to avoid disruption, especially for certain types of travel such as those on school trips.
“Future deals must be reached to avoid new barriers being placed to travel. The polling undertaken this weekend demonstrates that there is strong support for this approach among the UK public.”
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