Scenic Group UK, which includes Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises strengthens the leadership team announcing Nichola Absalom as Managing Director, Sales and Marketing, and the appointment of Nick Hughes, as Director of Sales, Partnerships and Strategic Growth, for Scenic and Emerald Cruises UK and Ireland. Hughes is currently Sales Director, UK & Europe Princess Cruises.
Nichola Absalom, Managing Director, Sales & Marketing, strengthens her UK leadership team with the appointment of high-profile sales director Nick Hughes, who brings significant industry experience from his previous roles with Princess Cruises, Gold Medal/Travel 2 & Attraction World. Hughes joins the business in January 2024.
Absalom says “We are delighted that Nick has agreed to join us at such an exciting and important time for our brands. We are eyeing significant growth over the next few years, with more exciting plans still to come, following the recent addition of our beautiful new ocean ships, Scenic Eclipse II and Emerald Sakkara, this year. He brings significant expertise, industry knowledge and experience to support the ambitious growth we have for our business in 2024 and beyond and I am looking forward to working closely with Nick to achieve this.”
Nick Hughes, “It is a very exciting time to join the Scenic Group, Nichola and her teams in the UK & Ireland. The guest experiences they deliver are truly market-leading and highly desirable. I’m looking forward to working with the team to spearhead our ambitious plans.
“Travel agents and tour operator partners are central to building the business for Scenic and Emerald Cruises. The consumer demand is there, our mission is to support our industry partners both existing and new and help them to build their knowledge and confidence so they can help create stories for life for their customers with Scenic & Emerald. This is going to be a real privilege.”
Eithne Williamson, Vice President, Princess Cruises UK & Europe, said: “It’s been a great year for the Princess UK and Europe sales team, and we are thankful for the wealth of knowledge and experience that Nick brought to the team. Whilst he will be missed at Princess, having the opportunity for wider remit with a smaller privately-owned business that is closer to home is one Nick couldn’t turn down.
“We wish him well in his future as we look forward to continued success of Princess supported by our brilliant partnerships with valued travel agents.
“Princess will be recruiting for the Sales Director role, starting internally by looking across our valued and talented employees at Carnival.”
Hughes will report to Nichola Absalom and take responsibility for the eleven strong sales and partnership team at Scenic and Emerald Cruises. He will be based at their office in Manchester.
