NEWS FACE TO FACE
CHRIS TOWNSON
Uniworld UK managing director
The new UK head aims to double Uniworld’s business in this country and change the way the brand talks to the trade. Harry Kemble reports
brand’s profile in Britain by re-evaluating how the line speaks to the trade.
U In the first three weeks after
taking up his role in October, Chris Townson went on five Uniworld ships and youth cruise brand U by Uniworld’s The B ship. Now he has set to work aiming to
increase Uniworld’s business from the UK market from 10% to 20%. Over 12 years Townson
expanded river cruise and touring specialist Scenic and sister brand Emerald Waterways from just two people to a company of 60. He now hopes to repeat the feat with Uniworld and U by Uniworld. Townson said: “What appealed
to me was that Uniworld is a small player in the UK marketplace by quite a way in terms of distribution and trade.
niworld’s UK managing director is looking to boost the river cruise
“Coming here was an opportunity to redevelop the marketplace. I have free reign to build the brand. “I have to do that within the
brand guidelines, but we have to talk to the UK audience as a UK audience. It is all a bit Americanised for my liking. “We will talk to any business
in a way that they understand. At the end of the day, we are the Regent Seven Seas of the river cruise world, but we are
not talking in those terms.” Of Uniworld’s 40 core travel
agent partners, 20 are looking at selling U by Uniworld sailings. Townson has spoken to 20 other partners during his two months in the job in a bid to attract new-to- cruise passengers.
Potential partner
London-based travel agent Forever Cruises, winner of the rising stars category at last year’s Clia Cruise Excellence Awards, is one partner
Lucy Hone to head southern sales force
Uniworld has employed Lucy Hone as the brand's UK sales manager in the south of England. Hone will report to Dave Chidley, the national sales manager, when she begins her role on January 2. Hone previously worked at Scenic and Emerald Waterways with
Chris Townson during his time as UK managing director for the sister brands. James Howlett covers the north of England for Uniworld.
12
travelweekly.co.uk 14 December 2017
Townson is keen to bring onside to help sell U by Uniworld cruises. “They have got a huge hold of
the millennial business,” Townson added. “They have got that audience. “We are relatively new, so it is
going to take time and effort.” Uniworld’s president and chief
executive Ellen Bettridge told the Clia River Cruise Conference in November that UK bookings for the company’s youth cruise brand U by Uniworld had been “light”. Townson is not alarmed by
the comment. He, like Bettridge, believes wholeheartedly in the U by Uniworld product, adding the millennial-only concept is a “groundbreaking” one. “I launched Emerald in the UK
from nothing to where it is today,” he said. “U by Uniworld’s product is a luxury one. We have got a lot of partners in Oxford and Cambridge. We are going after students with money, but we have got partners in other areas too.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
