First Choice chief moves to Thompson Travel arm

Thomson Travel has appointed Kevin Ivie as managing director of its Specialist Holidays Group.

Ivie moves from rival First Choice, where he was managing director of specialist business.

Ivie will run all 15 of Thomson’s specialist holiday companies. These include Simply Travel, Magic Holidays, Thomson Ski & Snowboarding and American Holidays.

Ivie held several posts at First Choice, including commercial director and marketing director. Before joining First Choice, Ivie worked at Thomson in a number of product and marketing roles.

At Thomson, he will report to chief operating officer Peter Rothwell, who says: “Ivie has a proven track record in tour operating and will bring extensive knowledge and experience with him to this role.”

Rothwell moved last October from Airtours, where he was head of the UK Leisure unit.

Last June, German tour operator Preussag acquired Thomson for &£1.8bn, beating rival German company C&N Touristic.

Preussag was later forced by the European Commission to sell its share of travel company Thomas Cook to C&N for &£550m.