Colin Stewart has been elected as the new chairman of the Latin American Travel Association.

Stewart’s appointment as chairman, which is now in effect, was unanimously voted for by the LATA committee and will see him continue to drive the organisation forward in its mission to grow travel to and around Latin America.

Stewart is an airline professional who in his role as Air Europa’s director, United Kingdom & Ireland, has overseen significant development of the route network between the UK and Latin America achieving year-on-year double digit growth since successfully launching the airline in the UK in 2009.

Stewart, who has been an active member of LATA for eight years, joins LATA during at a time of exceptional growth. 

Today LATA brings together a record 327 members from the UK and overseas including tourism boards, destination management companies, tour operators, airlines and hotel groups.

Since the association was founded 25 years ago, LATA has grown in strength and influence and today it is the largest organisation of its kind worldwide.

Stewart said: “I am extremely excited to have been selected as the new chairman for LATA and I am looking forward to leading the association through the next stages of growth.

“We have an excellent opportunity to further develop the tourism sector to Latin America, while supporting our membership and developing business partnerships that will prove vital to our future success.”

Stewart replaces former LATA chairman Byron Shirto who stepped down last month.