TORONTO — Effective immediately Devin Kinasz will be taking on the leadership role as the new publisher at Travelweek Group, the leading travel trade publication in Canada, in both print and digital.

She is supported by her long-standing team, including Kathryn Folliott, Editor and Annie Cicvaric, Director of Business Development.

“I am very excited to step into my new role as publisher at Travelweek, which has so many pillars of strength – loyal readers, great brand value and many decades-long, established industry relationships,” says Devin. “I am very thankful to the members of my team, who are the best in the business, and who have shown me nothing but support and loyalty to the brand. We are excited about our continued transformation and have developed a reputation as the industry leader, constantly reinventing ourselves, and that will continue under my leadership.”

Devin has a BA of Economics from UBC, MSc of International Development from the University of Bristol, and an MBA Essentials from the Rotman School of Management at U of T.

She worked for 5 years in London, England in banking as a Country Risk Economist at Standard Bank analyzing country and corporate risk, then did a stint at Scotiabank in Toronto as the U.S. Economist.

Starting with Travelweek in 2013 as Director of Digital Strategy, Devin was instrumental in doubling Travelweek’s digital revenue over the past 5 years, and led several transformations of different website and email products, plus conceptualized and successfully launched the world’s only virtual reality platform for the travel trade.

Travelweek, considered the leader in print media for the travel trade, has become the dominant player in digital as well, with the most popular travel trade website in Canada, as per Amazon Alexa’s popularity rankings and the Humber survey of Canadian travel agents. Travelweek now has the most website traffic, biggest opt-in email databases and the largest social media following of all the Canadian travel trade publications, either print or digital.

“We have made some huge strides in our digital products and have significant plans to continue to invest in and improve them, starting with our new newsletter design launched today,” says Devin. “Travelweek has the largest range of products to offer in the industry, so we are able to satisfy all of our clients’ needs – from print and digital to warehousing, video, VR, social media and much more.”

She adds: “I am keenly aware that the backbone of this entire business is the travel agent community. Canadian travel agents have been our loyal readers for over 45 years, and they will continue to be our first priority. Travelweek is #1 with travel agents, and travel agents are the cornerstone of the Canadian travel industry.”

Gerald Kinasz, Travelweek Group publisher for the past 25 years, successful businessman and corporate lawyer, will step into his new role as Chairman overseeing his business interests including media, warehousing, real estate and financial.

“I have watched Devin grow and take on more responsibility over the years, and with her vision and keen understanding of technology, the Travelweek Group is in the best possible hands to continue its success as the leading travel trade publication in Canada and move into even more digital success,” he said.

Devin can be reached at dkinasz@travelweek.ca.