The Scenic Group, which includes Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises, has made five new appointments to the UK trade sales team in a bid to get closer to agents and develop more agencies into ‘high value’ trade partners.
Travel industry veteran – Andrea Stafford – has been appointed as director of trade sales UK for The Scenic Group, overseeing the newly restructured trade-dedicated team of 10. Stafford, who will begin her new role on April 4th, will report to Scenic Group’s chief sales & marketing officer, Anna Wolfsteiner.
Stafford brings more than 20 years’ travel industry experience to the Scenic Group. Having been a regional sales manager for First Choice Holidays back in the late 90’s, she progressed to working in sales leadership roles at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Thomas Cook and most recently MSC Cruises. Here she held the position of Head of Retail and was responsible for business development and sales growth within consortium, retail and homeworking trade partners. Stafford brings extensive experience in sales and commercial operations within the travel industry.
Commenting on the appointment, Wolfsteiner said “Andrea’s wealth of experience and natural leadership qualities will be a huge asset to us as we enter an exciting new chapter for the Scenic Group. I’m thrilled she’s joining the team and look forward to supporting her in the months to come as we continue to realise our UK trade growth strategy.”
Stafford commented, “I’m looking forward to bringing the experience I have had over many years to the Scenic Group and helping UK agents to recognise the enormous potential within the brand. I’m equally excited to be joining the impressive newly expanded trade sales team and working with them to grow. The Scenic Group is a dynamic business that has an incredible line of up of industry first, new hardware and truly game-changing experiences planned for this year. I can’t wait to get started.”
Wendi Hardy has been promoted to the newly created role of national sales key account manager with immediate effect and the regional sales team has been bolstered by the recent addition of Jonathan Davies (sales manager – north) and a soon to be announced new sales manager – central. In addition, the agency sales support and trade marketing team have both doubled in size with two new appointments.
Wolfsteiner added “Our trade partners are an essential part of our ongoing success and we are committed to making sure that they have every opportunity to grow with us.
“The enhanced team aims to give every agent even more chance to build their Scenic Group business and benefit from our award-winning support.”
For more information on the Scenic Group, agents should visit www.scenic.co.uk or www.emeraldcruises.co.uk.
