APT has announced the recruitment of Brad Bennetts, who will take over as the new head of sales and business development at the brand from June.

In addition to providing leadership to the sales department, which currently comprises three highly experienced business development managers, he will be responsible for identifying and developing growth opportunities and driving sales for the luxury river cruise, small ship cruising and touring.

His work will cover both the APT and the Travelmarvel brands. 

Bennetts brings extensive travel industry experience and his great trade relationships to the role.

He will join APT from easyJet holidays, where he has been head of distribution for nearly two years.

Prior to that, he spent four and a half years as senior sales and retail operations manager at Kuoni. 

“As we enter a new era of trade sales, Brad’s extensive knowledge of the UK travel industry and his genuine commitment to agents and their success make him the perfect choice to lead our efforts at this very exciting time for our brands.

“Trade sales account for 75 per cent of our current business and we can’t think of anyone better to look after our travel agent partners from early June,” said Paul Melinis, managing director of APT and Travelmarvel.

Bennetts replaces Jessica Shelton-Agar, who left APT to move to the Middle East in January, after ten years with the brand.