Travel Advance
We are market leaders at destination marketing in Central Eastern Europe. Our clients are DMOs, and other commercial travel entities such as cruises, hotels and DMCs. We offer services in public relations, digital marketing solutions, travel trade relations, social media management, online and offline event management, market research and strategical consultancy.
About
Travel Advance has offices in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. We are the official representatives of Dubai Tourism and Malta Tourism Authority; and we contracted to provide PR and social media for Croatia National Tourism Board and Costa Cruises. We consult for many other DMOs. We represent upmarket hotels and safaris in Thailand, Botswana & Zimbabwe, and organise travel industry events, especially for African stakeholders, in Central Europe, Germany and Russia.
Faces
High-performing company with high-performing team
Paddington Tucker is founder and managing director of Travel Advance. He studied Eastern European languages, culture and history at the universities of Glasgow and London before setting up a tourism marketing agency in London in 2002. Sensing opportunity he relocated to Prague in 2008, where his business grew in tandem with the emerging economies of Central Eastern Europe.
Paddington has promoted destinations in a variety of cultural settings giving him a genuinely global perspective. He presides over a team of 12 people in five countries, which requires excellent inter-cultural skills. He is a good leader of people and a strong communicator of market trends and insights. “Every country sees the world through the prism of its own cultural perspective. My life-long passion is to study that cultural perspective and to put these learnings to good use during my professional life.”
paddington@travel-advance.com
Before joining Travel Advance in 2017 Emilia worked for 12 years at the Polish Tourist Organisation where she supervised marketing B2C and B2B activities in various European and Asian markets (India, China, South Korea, Israel, Czech Rep, Slovakia and Hungary). In the period 2012-2015 she was the project leader for the ‘I like Poland’ campaign which was launched for the Asian markets. At Travel Advance Emilia manages our Polish PR office in Warsaw. Emilia has excellent media relations and for our clients the tourism boards of Dubai, Malta and Croatia, Emilia has delivered a variety of press trips, influencer projects and TV/radio activations.
emilia@travel-advance.com
Kristyna has over 15 years of experience as a marketeer. She worked as Account Manager for Ogilvy and created and managed campaigns for such clients as Eurotel/O2 or IBM. She has long term experience with event marketing in the golf industry and with brand marketing of travel magazines in publishing houses. Since early 2011 Kristyna has worked in destination marketing with a variety of destinations initially working for Canton Graubünden in Switzerland. In 2015 she joined Travel Advance and worked on the accounts of Kenya Tourism Board, Dubai Tourism and Madagascar Tourism Board. Since 2018 her prime responsibility is to implement the marketing strategy for the promotion of the Malta Tourism Authority in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She is also strongly involved with the promotion of Travel Advance‘s African DMC and hotel clients.
kristyna@travel-advance.com
Martina joined Travel Advance in 2020, she has worked for Trentino Marketing where she conducts market research and oversees PR account. Since late 2020 Martina is social media manager for our client Croatia National Tourism Board where she oversees the Central Eastern European market. She is responsible for creating localised communication strategy which includes content, media plan,
copywriting as well as influencer marketing and relations.
She studied Marketing Communications and Public Relations at Charles University Prague, and is currently doing a post-grad in Strategic Communications. Martina has multiple experiences with state and non-profit institutions. For example, she was a content creator and copywriter of Covid.gov.cz and she was in charge of communication of Youth, Speak Up! a non-profit organization of young MPs working in the Czech parliament.
martina.kolska@travel-advance.com
Wiktoria joined Travel Advance in early 2021 and is a versatile destination marketing professional. She is an excellent researcher, has managed influencer campaigns, PR activities and B2B events for a number of clients (Dubai, Trentino, Lithuania, Iceland, Wyndham).
wiktoria@travel-advance.com
Based in Krakow. Marcin has over 16 years of experience in destination marketing. He worked for the Municipality of Kraków as a head of the economic & investment promotion office, then in the private sector as co-founder and co-owner of creative agencies focused on tourism promotion. His clients included various Polish cities and regions (Małopolska, Kraków, Pomorskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie), foreign destinations (Cagliari in Italy, City of Kosice), as well as the Polish governmental sector - Ministry of Infrastructure & Development and Polish Tourism Organization.
Since early 2019 Marcin works for Travel Advance as PR and social media manager, where is prime focus is Croatian National Tourist Board in the Polish market.
marcin.gajownik@travel-advance.com
Monika joined Travel Advance in early 2022 to manage so called emerging markets (Slovakia, Serbia and Bulgaria) for Dubai Tourism. She is a versatile team player and assists on a variety of different client accounts. Before joining Travel Advance, Monika gained varied work experience in international relocation, education, culture and travel services. She studied the tourism industry and international relations together with art management.
monika@travel-advance.com
Klara is multi-skilled having worked both in destination PR and travel trade relations and has detailed of both media and travel trade landscapes in Hungary. She has experience of developing marketing and sales strategy in online media platforms, social media management and statistical analysis. She joined Travel Advance in 2016 and has overseen numerous Hungarian media trips, TV and radio projects primarily for Dubai Tourism.. She has coordinate numerous marketing campaigns with leading tour operators, and organised travel trade events and webinars.
klara@travel-advance.com
Experienced online marketer, helped companies in all sizes and verticals achieve visibility and reach their goals. Travel aficionado, destination marketing was the next logical step so that passion could meet profession. Alina is a people person, highly skilled at creating and maintaining professional and warm relationships. She is a problem solver - relentlessly working towards finding the right solution for every situation. She has worked as travel trade manager in Romania for Dubai Tourism since July 2018.
alina@travel-advance.com
Meet Petra, who as a part of the Travel Advance team, closely collaborates with the Croatian National Tourist Board as a Social media manager, creating communication and content strategy appealing to the Czech audience as well as copywriting, influencer marketing strategy and relations. Her agenda also includes supervising other CEE markets pursuing the same agenda – to present Croatia to local audiences. Petra is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree in marketing and PR in her hometown – Prague, Czech Republic – using the expertise she gained through her studies, numerous internships and here in Travel Advance.
petra.hnatkova@travel-advance.com
Andrea embarked on her journey with Travel Advance, specializing in PR and Social Media for the Croatian National Tourist Board within the Slovak market. She is responsible for creating localised communication strategy which includes content, media plan, copywriting as well as influencer marketing and relations. Situated in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, Andrea recently completed her Master's studies in Marketing Communication. Prior to joining Travel Advance, she worked as a content creator across diverse fields such as travel, food and beverage, architecture and music (Diplomatico Slovakia, LanguageCert Slovakia, photography for local breweries wineries and coffeehouses, photoshoots for DJs and dancers in Slovakia, Social Media for Bratislava Airport + architectural studio (currently working with these two)). Beyond her marketing and communications expertise, Andrea focuses on photography and visual arts.
andrea@travel-advance.com
Career Opportunities with Travel Advance
We are constantly looking for dynamic professionals in what is a relatively new field in our region. If you are interested in pursuing a career in destination marketing, and if you have experience in both the travel industry and marketing and/or have an academic background in destination marketing, we want to hear from you. We may not have an open position immediately, but our company is evolving all the time.
Destination marketing consultant
We are looking for a destination marketing consultant to assist on our key accounts. The ideal candidate will have a good grasp of consumer marketing, strong research skills and an overview of the Czech travel trade landscape. Please send an email to: hr@travel-advance.com. Position available immediately at Prague head office.