AAT Kings welcomes two new faces

AAT Kings welcomes two new faces

AAT Kings Tours has welcomed two new appointments to the team.

Takahiro Kondo will take up the newly created position of senior sales manager for Asia, and Katie Laird has been promoted to manager of international operations.

Kondo has been promoted to the role, which will see him take responsibility for all Asian markets including Japan.  He takes on the role after many years working with the Japanese market.

Kondo first joined AAT Kings as a Japanese-speaking guide then progressed to product development, operations and sales roles, and recently celebrated a 15 year milestone with AAT Kings.

“Both Takahiro and Katie are much loved members of our team, having worked their way up the ranks over the years, and I’m certain they will thrive in their new roles,” said AAT Kings managing director Anthony Hayes.

“Takahiro has been incredibly successful in promoting our Japanese language touring programme in the Northern Territory with these tours now becoming some of our most popular amongst Japanese travellers visiting Australia. Drawing on his customer service expertise, Takahiro’s main focus will be to further grow our important Asian markets.”

Like Kondo, Laird has been involved in many facets of the AAT Kings business, including reservations, operations, product, and most recently in a business development role focusing on the inbound market and OTAs.

“Katie is a huge asset to our team, bringing a wealth of experience and genuine passion for our brand. With responsibility for all our international and inbound sales and marketing administration Katie will be an invaluable support to our market sales managers and teams by providing crucial centralised support,” Hayes added.

Both Kondo and Laird will share responsibility for onshore inbound tour operators, with Kondo to take the lead in the eastern hemisphere and Laird on the western hemisphere, with both appointments coming into effect immediately.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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