Brian Robertson, President of the Canada West region of Direct Travel, has announced the promotion of travel veteran Julie Skinner to the role of Vice President, Leisure Sales and Operations for the region, which includes all provinces from British Columbia to Ontario.

In her new role, Skinner will be responsible for every aspect of the leisure travel experience for clients and for the expansion of the company’s Independent Travel Advisor program which already has a thriving base of almost 300Advisors. Vision is the Canadian leisure travel arm of Direct Travel, North America’s premier leisure and corporate travel management company.

“Julie has consistently shown tremendous leadership skills,” says Robertson. “Her ability to connect with advisors has resulted in the solid growth of their sales, whether they are employees or ITAs.”

Skinner, who started her career as a travel advisor in 1989 and joined the company in 2010, is also known in the sporting world for her accomplishments as a curler: four-time Canadian Champion, two-time World Champion and two-time Olympic Bronze Medalist.

“Since the day I joined Vision, I’ve always believed in our personalized approach, allowing us to focus on people and relationships,” states Skinner. “I am absolutely thrilled to lead our team of travel advisors out of what, I think we all agree, has been the toughest two years in the history of our industry.”

In conjunction with Skinner’s promotion, Vision Travel will be hiring multiple regional managers in the Western provinces.

With 30 retail offices across Canada and almost 400 leisure travel advisors, Vison recently launched Direct ASCENT, a program focusing on the growth and professional development for Independent Travel Advisors.

Skinner, who is based in Victoria, can be reached at (250) 412-1871; toll-free (877) 412-1887 ext 8871; or at julie.skinner@visiontravel.ca.