Paula Lacey will step down from her role on the board of Advantage Travel Partnership in September.

As she relocates to Dubai, she will also leave her role as group commercial director of the organisation.

During her three-year tenure at Advantage, the largest consortia of independent travel agents, Lacey achieved a number of milestones for the company to aid members through commercial marketing, membership, Advantage Holidays and PR.

“I have spent a lot of time in Dubai in previous roles so when an opportunity to relocate arose, for personal reasons, I jumped at it.

“I am looking forward to finding a role in Dubai that will utilise the skills and experience that I have gathered during my career,” commented Lacey.

“I have really enjoyed my time at Advantage and loved getting to know many of the members, as well as working closely with key suppliers and airlines.

“I will certainly miss working with a great team of people and wish the business great success for the future.”

Advantage Travel Partnership is the UK’s largest independent travel agent partnership.

Advantage leisure and business travel agents who are part of the group are each independently owned, but as a collective they produce over £5.5 billion of travel sales each year, making members experts in every aspect of the travel industry.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, commented: “Paula will be missed, I thank Paula for her dedication over the past three years and we wish her all the best in her next adventure.

“As we work through our future vision and the people structure that will support our growth, I am delighted to announce that Lee Ainsworth our current trading and product manager for Advantage Holidays has been promoted to head of Advantage Holidays and Olga Kelly who has been my human resources manager for the past four years has been promoted to head of people and talent.

“We have lots of exciting plans and further announcements which will follow later in the year.”