Richard Downs, the Chief Executive of Iglu.com has joined the ABTA board.
ABTA is the UK’s leading travel association that helps members grow their business, as well as ensuring the general public can book their travel with confidence. It is an extremely well-regarded association within the travel industry and trusted by millions of travellers every year.
Richard Downs founded Iglu in 1998 during his final year of an MBA at the London Business School. Prior to this Downs worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Salomon Brothers.
Iglu have grown substantially over the years and are now the largest retailer of ski and cruise holidays within the UK. Earlier this year Iglu acquired Planet Cruise and became the UK's largest independent cruise agent.
Downs said ”ABTA is the UK’s largest and most trusted travel association brand with a deep heritage and I’m delighted to be joining the board during a period of such great change in both consumer buying habits and also in terms of technology and regulation. Iglu.com pioneered retailing ski on the web 15 years ago and I believe I can bring this fresh and pioneering spirit to ABTA’s strong and diverse board.”
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA said ''Richard is an exciting addition to the ABTA board, he brings with him rich online and commercial expertise which will be of real benefit of ABTA. His passion for entrepreneurship and growing businesses will also be an asset to ABTA and our membership.''
This new addition to the ABTA board follows the welcoming of Martin Randall, Chief Executive of Martin Randall Travel. ABTA have a strong board including Nick Longman from TUI Travel, Mike Hoban from Thomas Cook and Roger Allard from All Leisure Travel.