Riviera Travel’s new chief eyes further growth as sales ‘skyrocket’

Riviera Travel’s new boss is looking at the positioning and perception of the river cruise and escorted tour operator as part of his strategy to continue growing the company’s “skyrocketing” sales.

 

Matt Luscombe, who succeeded Phil Hullah as chief executive on January 1 as the latter stepped down, brings leadership experience from the travel, leisure and retail sectors.

 

Luscombe said Riviera’s results since Covid have been “amazing” and 2026 has started with “an absolute bang”.

 

“We are having by far the best peak trading period we’ve ever had as a company, which makes things an awful lot easier for me – coming into a company which is just going gangbusters,” he told a Travel Weekly webcast.

 

“A huge thank you to all of our partners in the trade, because every single one of those sales counts and you guys are working very hard to help us achieve those numbers.

 

“We launched a really well-executed 10% off campaign – supported hugely by our trade partners [and] the numbers have just skyrocketed. We are having a really good period right now.”

 

He noted how the company began as a tour operator but is now better known for its river cruising – although the business is split about half and half between the two sectors.

 

Asked if education or rebranding was the key to driving more awareness of the touring side, he said: “Three weeks in, I don’t want to announce any new brands today, but I think our brand architecture is an opportunity, so I will be looking at that.”

 

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He said Riviera is seeing “brilliant growth” through the trade for river cruising and escorted tours but added: “When you speak to agents and ask them, they repeat what we said earlier: that there is a stronger association right now between Riviera and river cruise than on the tour side, but nothing that completely distorts the numbers.”

 

Asked about developing the river cruise offer, he said: “We are looking at opportunities like further differentiation and further innovation of our ships, of our service model, looking at how we recognise and appreciate our most loyal guests, and really driving those high retention rates.

 

“At the same time, it’s really important that we introduce new customers to the model – when people have been on a river cruise, they are very, very likely to come again.”

 

On escorted tours, he said: “The opportunity there is to make sure that our customers know about it.

 

“There is a big obligation on us to make sure we are cross-selling between our different offers, between our customer bases, and looking to our partners to make sure that when somebody is looking for an escorted tour, Riviera is part of that consideration.”

 

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