TMS sees optimism on job front as Rizzuto buys in
Australia’s travel and tourism industry is looking for business development managers. That’s the word from specialist travel, tourism and hospitality recruitment and HR services company TMS Asia-Pacific.
Top TMS Asia-Pacific team in Sydney yesterday: Mark Rizzuto, Sally Matheson and Gary Marshall.
Senior principals and executives of TMS Asia-Pacific, including founder Gary Marshall, met industry media in Sydney yesterday to announce that high-profile industry strategist Mark Rizzuto will become a major shareholder in the company and play a leading role in taking the company forward.
Marshall said Rizzuto’s core expertise lay in the area of emerging travel products and technologies, and how they directly impact travel industry business practices. This would prove of immense benefit to TMS, he said.
“He is considered a foremost expert on Asia-Pacific travel distribution strategies, technologies and business trends, all of which will prove invaluable to the brand as we continue to take it forward into the future,” Marshall said.
Rizzuto, who will be based in TMS’s Pitt Street, Sydney, regional headquarters, will focus on developing the company regionally, particularly the company’s Australian base.
“In addition to Mark’s management responsibilities, he will play an instrumental role in the design and execution of projects and other activity designed to strengthen the TMS brand in all our areas of operation,” Marshall added.
“Having Mark come on board represents a major achievement for TMS.”
TMS team in festive mode.
Talking with industry media yesterday, Rizzuto said he was optimistic about the coming 12 months. TMS was an established and highly regarded brand, he noted.
“If you’re thinking of buying into a brand you don’t want start-ups because there’s no brand,” he said.
TMS General Manager – Australia, Sally Matheson said the jobs market has lifted this year, riding about 30% higher this January than in the same month last year.
Top of the demand list are business development managers.
“Everyone’s looking for them because a good business development manager brings in the business,” Matheson said. Homegrown corporates are keeping the market alive and buoyant because they are less affected by overseas influences.
Rizzuto, actively engaged in the travel industry for more than 30 years in various senior roles in the airline, retail, wholesale and technology sectors, is experienced in destination marketing and GDS. He has held executive positions including Commercial Director – Sabre Pacific (Australia); General Manager – Internet Travel Technologies (Australia); Vice President & General Manager Galileo Southern Cross – Travelport (Australia & New Zealand), and Vice President Airline Services Asia & Pacific – Travelport (Australia).
He is a past director of Gulliver’s Travel Associates Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan and also has extensive experience in the India IT sector.
TMS, chaired by travel industry luminary Phil Hoffmann (a former president of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, AFTA), runs offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The company’s overseas operation includes offices in Auckland, Bangkok, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore and affiliates in the UK/Europe, the Middle East and North America.
TMS officially entered launched into the executive training arena in July 2009 with the launch of its first ‘TMS Academy’ concept in Singapore.
Written by : Peter Needham
