UK sales team doubles in size
Guildford - (Aug. 22, 2019) -
AmaWaterways has announced further expansion of its UK operation. Hot on the heels of three new ship launches and the first ever British Godmother, the river cruise line has announced four new UK hires as a direct result of the continued growth in sales.
The changes coincide with the announcement from the UK’s Parent Company that there is further planned investment in their European fleet with a second double-width ship under consideration. They are also looking at opportunities to run a programme on the Nile in Egypt.
The size of the UK sales team has doubled and will be headed up by Jon Knight who has been promoted from Business Development Manager (BDM) to the newly created position of National Sales Manager.
Joanne Smithies, currently BDM for the North of England & Scotland has had Ireland added to her remit.
Rachel Simon joins as BDM for the South West & Central England having previously held sales positions at JTA and Royal Caribbean.
The specialist river cruise operator is also currently recruiting for a Business Development Manager for the South East of England.
Meanwhile, the Guildford-based reservations team has been bolstered by the arrival of Andy Burt as Customer Services Manager and Verity Lee as River Cruise Consultant.
Andy joins the business from Scott Dunn whilst Verity comes from Affinity Villas.
Stuart Perl, Managing Director commented "2019 has been another exciting year for AmaWaterways with the launch of 3 new ships and the company’s first UK Godmother.
"We continue to focus on growing our UK presence through increasing brand awareness and the development of relationships with more and more trade partners.
“We pride ourselves on being a trade-focussed business with 90% of our sales generated by our UK trade partners, who are the lifeblood of our business. They have had an outstanding year, growing our business by more than 20% - in spite of the tough trading conditions. It is vital that we are geared up to provide them with the highest level of support possible so that they can continue to drive sales of our excellent and innovative river cruises.
"The investment to expand our sales and reservations teams underpins our trade-focussed strategy and I am confident that this single-minded approach will continue to deliver excellent growth for us all.”