TUI UK & I has created a brand-new team within its business, to enhance training and support for UK travel agents, as well as drive sales and increase awareness of both the Marella Cruises and TUI River Cruises’ product offering.
The new team has been appointed and is made up of four positions which will report into Andrew Isherwood, National Account Manager – Commercial Relations, alongside his existing commercial team.
Steven Heath has been appointed as Senior Cruise Commercial Support Manager whose key responsibilities will include supporting with delivering commercial aspirations of Marella and TUI River Cruises, building relationships and providing strategic direction to valued trade partners. Steven brings with him a wealth of experience and was formerly a Travel Advisor and Retail Operations Executive at TUI before moving into the commercial team, where he has held positions as commercial manager for cruise and most recently account manager for UK & Nordics region for the Tourist Boards Partnerships team.
Supporting Steven will be two Cruise Commercial Managers, Jessica Garner and Lynsey Roberts. Within their remit they will be preparing travel agent partners with the tools they need to best support their customers and help to generate those all-important bookings. Lynsey has 25 years of industry experience, and in TUI has held a variety of roles from cabin crew, retail management, operations and most recently within business systems and training. Jessica also began her career at TUI as Deputy Retail Manager in Minehead, before working across different teams including content marketing, social media, and tourism board teams.
In addition, Sarah Whitehouse will hold the position as Training Delivery Manager. Sarah has worked as a store manager within the retail arm of the business, but more recently as a training consultant. Sarah will be sharing her passion and knowledge about the Marella Cruises and TUI River Cruises to ensure agents understand the brands, the breadth of products and services available and equip them with the tools they need to best support their front-line teams and their customers. Jessica, Lynsey and Sarah will join their roles on 31st October 2022, with Steven joining from 28th November 2022.
Chris Hackney, managing director of cruise at TUI UK&I commented, “We’re excited to be growing the team at this pivotal time for the cruise industry. Since the re-start of cruise last year, we’ve been working hard to reassure customers and get them back to cruising.
He continued, “‘We have ambitious plans for Marella and TUI River Cruises and having a dedicated team in place to support agents will play an important role in the businesses’ future. With the launch of Marella Voyager and our new US itineraries on Marella Discovery in 2023, we are seeing trends of customers booking earlier than before.”
