Montreal, January 22, 2009
Lina de Cesare, President, Tour Operators, of Transat A.T. Inc., one of the largest integrated tourism companies in the world, is pleased to announce the appointment of Patrice Caradec as President, Transat France S.A.S. In his new role, Mr. Caradec will oversee the development and implementation of Transat’s strategy in France, and will direct its main business development initiatives. He will also continue to hold his current position as head of Vacances Transat (France). Cédric Gobilliard, General Manager of Look Voyages, and Patricia Chastel, General Manager of the Club Voyages network, will report to Mr. Caradec and, together with him, will form the new Transat France management committee.
“Our operations in France have grown strongly in recent years and the French market, which remains promising despite the current economic slowdown, has evolved significantly,” Mrs. De Cesare said. “We plan to maintain our momentum and in order to do this we are adopting, with the creation of Transat France, a structure that will help us fully leverage our potential and better orchestrate our operations, both as a tour operator and a distributor, under Patrice’s leadership.”
In 2008, Transat’s tour operations in France generated revenues of about half a billion euros and sent nearly 600,000 travellers to destinations in almost every region of the world.
Mr. Caradec, for his part, said: “Our priority, with Cédric and Patricia, will be to implement the strategic plan we recently developed, focusing on growth and complementarity of action by Vacances Transat, Look Voyages and Club Voyages. The dual objective is to grow market shares and improve margins so we can continue to build on the formidable platform we have all developed together.”
Mr. Caradec joined Vacances Transat (France) as Sales and Marketing Director in 1997. He went on to serve as Assistant General Manager before being appointed General Manager in 2004. He has more than 20 years of experience in the tourism and travel industry. Prior to joining Transat, he served as Sales Director at Jet Tours; Sales Director at Chorus Tour; Manager responsible for the French market at Pierre et Vacances; Sales Manager at Hertz; a Club Med tour guide in Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Southeast Asia; and also worked at the individual sales department at Nouvelles Frontières. Mr. Caradec is a graduate of École Supérieure de Tourisme in Paris.
Transat A.T. Inc. is an integrated international tour operator with more than 60 destination countries and that distributes products in over 50 countries. A holiday travel specialist, Transat operates mainly in Canada and Europe, as well as in the Caribbean, Mexico and the Mediterranean Basin. Montreal-based Transat is also active in air transportation, accommodation, destination services and distribution. (TSX: TRZ.B, TRZ.A)