The heads of TUI subsidiaries L’tur and TUIfly are leaving their posts in surprise moves while there are management changes at other German tourism companies.
Markus Orth, the long-serving head of leading German last-minute holidays specialist L’tur, is leaving the company in a surprise move and will be replaced by a manager from majority shareholder TUI. Orth is standing down as CEO for personal reasons with effect from June 1 and will officially leave the company as of December 31, 2016. The 52-year-old joined the company in 2002 from Lufthansa and became CEO in 2008.
In parallel, L’tur financial director Kai Klitzke has left the company and been replaced by Volkmar Koch, who joined from consultants Strategy& (a PwC subsidiary). Earlier this month, L’tur named Thomas Silano, formerly with Alltours, as the new head of hotel contracting in place of Stefanie Erbacher who has left the company.
The new L’tur chief will be Marek Andryszak, who has been head of TUI Poland since 2008. He will be replaced by Marcin Dymnicki, TUI Poland’s finance chief since 2009. In other moves at the Polish tour operator, Lukasz Lysiak, formerly with Amazon, is the new commercial manager and Pawel Bienkowski has been named as sales and marketing manager.
TUIfly CEO Dieter Nirschl has left TUI’s German airline at his own wish after nearly 10 years in the management team. Under his management, TUIfly became primarily an in-house carrier flying TUI Germany customers. He has been replaced by COO Jochen Büntgen.
Direct sales specialist Berge & Meer, a TUI subsidiary, has named Torge Petersen as head of dynamic packaging with responsibility for expanding its beach holidays and city trips businesses to complement its sales of tours and cruises. Petersen was previously with dynamic packaging specialist Vtours. But Berge & Meer managing director Tim Dunker stressed: “It is not planned to develop a dynamic tour operator.”
Tour operator Ferien Touristik has named Stefan Dietrich as head of flight management with responsibility for flight planning and contracting. Volker Heisig, sales manager for Deutsche Bahn subsidiary Ameropa, is leaving the company to take up a new post within the industry.
Marco Montini, head of the Italian tourist office in Frankfurt for the last 10 years and director for German-speaking markets, Benelux and Central Europe since 2013, is leaving the organisation to take up a post in Tuscany. Enit is being restructured from a tourist board into an agency.
