Virgin Group on brink of building two cruise ships Virgin Group is weeks away from signing a $1.7 billion order to build two cruise ships. Founder Richard Branson is to commission the construction, likely to take four to five years, as part of plans to enter the sector. Financial backing for Virgin Cruises, to be based in Miami, has been secured from
“I don’t think Amazon or Facebook know what they are doing in the travel industry”
Kayak’s Steve Hafner questions the online giants’ strategies and says Google is ‘fast but inaccurate’
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private equity firm Bain Capital. Tom McAlpine, formerly of Disney Cruise Line, will lead the venture. ❯ Virgin Atlantic profit, page 78
Silversea promotes Donovan to succeed sales head Mehta Silversea UK head of sales Priti Mehta is leaving, prompting a change of management. National accounts manager Natasha Donovan becomes acting head of field sales and national accounts in the UK. She takes over Mehta’s duties including responsibility for the field sales team. The line will soon appoint a commercial director to succeed Mike Bonner as head of the UK and Ireland sales and marketing team.
Wanted: the UK’s top mum, for Manchester/Cook prize Manchester airport and Thomas Cook Airlines are looking for the UK’s most special mum to mark Mothering Sunday on March 15. The lucky mother will win a family holiday to Miami when the new direct route starts in May. To nominate your mum, or someone else’s, state why they are so special by logging on to:
manchesterairport.co.uk
Staysure to recruit 50 staff for call centre agency Over-50s travel insurance company Staysure is looking to recruit 50 staff after announcing plans to open an Abta and Atol- bonded call centre and online travel agency called Staysure Holidays. The agency, a member of the Advantage Travel Partnership, will open this summer, with bases in Coventry and Northampton. Roles to be filled include sales consultants, customer service, marketing, finance, IT and HR. The agency will allow clients to book holidays and insurance under one roof.
Spear Travels appoints Jones to boost homeworking Spear Travels has appointed Joan Jones as head of business development as it looks to grow its homeworking division. The company has seen an increase in enquiries since rebranding as ‘Inspearational.expert’ last year and, with 16 homeworkers currently, it hopes to recruit more under Jones.
Fundraisers rise to the challenge
for charity week Abta LifeLine has held its Big Charity Week to raise funds for those in the sector in need of support. “It was an amazing success, with
many companies getting involved, from Shearings to Affordable Car Hire,” said Trudie Drake, Abta LifeLine director. “We also had the #fancyroadies led by Sarah Archer at Beachcomber who dressed up, went on the road and visited travel shops collecting donations.” Pictured are Amadeus UK staff who took part in a paper aeroplane challenge.You can contribute £3 by texting TBCW15 to 70070. Find out more at
abtalifeline.org.uk
New Norwegian chief Stuart tips OTAs to move into cruise Agents in the UK should expect to see major online agents such as Expedia jumping on the cruise bandwagon, according to the new boss of Norwegian Cruise Line. Andy Stuart, who was
appointed president and chief operating officer last week, said online players in the US were increasingly selling cruise effectively. He said four
model driving leads to call centres. Stuart took over the role of
“Travel partners
years ago the sector barely registered for Expedia, but was given main-stage presence at a conference the online giant ran last year in the US. Stuart said the UK was likely to see the same trend. “There are many travel partners of all different sizes presenting cruise effectively online,” he said. Online agents have shied away
Joan Jones 8 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 12 March 2015
from cruise because it’s a tricky sell, but Stuart said Expedia was following an offline conversion
of all sizes are
presenting cruise effectively online”
president and COO after 26 years with the company, succeeding Drew Madsen who had been in place just six months. Madsen was recruited by former boss Kevin Sheehan before Norwegian’s parent company bought Regent Seven Seas and Oceania Cruises. Stuart said the business had a “great foundation” and had made “tremendous progress” over the last few years. Top of Stuart’s
priorities is the launch of Norwegian Escape in
October and growing business outside North America. Currently, just 15% of its business is international. Although Norwegian will “spend some time” reviewing deployment, Stuart said there were no plans to base a ship in the UK.
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