TOURVEST APPOINTS CORPORATE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT STALWART TO HEAD IN-FLIGHT DUTY FREE OPERATIONS

Tourvest Duty Free, the in-flight retail services business of integrated tourism group Tourvest’s Travel Retail division, has appointed Clive Jones as its new chief executive.

Jones, who holds a Chartered Institute of Company Secretaries and Administrations (CIS) qualification and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), comes from Tourvest’s corporate travel management division, Tourvest Travel Services, where he served as chief operating officer responsible, among others, for managing global client and supplier relationships, including international airlines.

Tourvest Travel Services is one of the top two corporate travel management companies in South Africa, providing travel management services to more than half of South Africa’s top 100 JSE-listed companies. It holds the master franchise rights to the American Express Travel Services (Amex) brand in sub-Saharan Africa. Jones led the alignment of global best practices and market trends on the continent, based on his global exposure to the Amex brand.

Tourvest Travel Retail chief executive Eric de Jager said Jones has been with Tourvest for 12 years and, therefore, has an in-depth understanding of the group’s systems, processes and culture. “His experience with and understanding of supplier relationships with most global airlines are particularly valuable to us and will assist our in-flight sales business in the provision of tailor-made value propositions to our airline partners,” he said.

Jones will be responsible for growing the business by building on Tourvest’s positioning as a leading provider and innovator in the in-flight retail services business. This he intends to achieve by fostering a client-centric ethos within the company; delivering further revenue growth for its airline partners through unique and route-specific product ranges targeted to exact traveller demographics; crew training and incentivising; and developing further competitive advantages through the introduction of technological advancements and additional in-flight retail opportunities to its partners.

Tourvest Duty Free, which has received more than 16 international awards, is rated among the top three in-flight duty free sales providers in the world. It packs, loads and tracks over 31 million products every year for eight airlines, operating close to 750 flights a day from six airports across the world. It processes over 1.7 million sales transactions per year. Concessionaires under Tourvest Duty Free management comprise British Airways, South African Airways, SA Express, Kenya Airways, TAAG, Arik, Interair and Precision.