ORLANDO, FLA. – Universal Orlando Resort is putting new resources and talent into its sales department so that it can grow and maintain even stronger relationships with the travel industry. Beginning with the appointment of Dan Cupertino to the position of senior vice president of sales in June, the newly focused sales team is working to partner more closely than ever with the travel industry.

“Our travel industry partners are more important to us than ever,” Cupertino said. “Our job is to work as closely as possible with our partners in the travel industry so that we can make it easier and simpler for them to sell Universal Orlando products.”

The new sales team will work to accomplish several objectives, Cupertino said, with many of those objectives focused exclusively on building a leadership role in the travel trade industry. They include re-building relationships with key sellers of Orlando travel products, aligning Universal Orlando Resort’s product and pricing strategies so that key sales channels can become competitive with the company’s direct-to-consumer efforts and developing products and packages that work for travel trade partners, their markets and their customers.

Key targets for the new sales team include domestic travel industry sales, the Canadian market, wholesale tour operators, travel agencies and AAA.

Cupertino, with more than 30 years of sales experience in the travel industry, will lead the new team and report to Gretchen Hofmann, senior vice president of sales and marketing. Cupertino’s new team includes Humphrey Simon, vice president international sales; Gary Swanson, vice president in-market sales and Universal Parks and Resorts; Dennis Quinn, vice president of travel industry sales; and Paul Rothenberg, vice president specialty sales.

Travel agents can book Universal Orlando vacations by visiting www.universaltravelagents.com, the newly redesigned, dedicated travel agent website, or by calling 1-800-331-3134.

The Universal Orlando resort destination (www.universalorlando.com) includes two dramatically distinct and adjacent theme parks, the Universal Studios motion picture and television theme park and Islands of Adventure, Orlando's most thrilling and exhilarating theme park. Universal Orlando also includes CityWalk, a 30-acre dining, shopping, club and live-entertainment venue as well as premier on-site Loews hotels and world-class film and television production facilities.