MSC Cruises is expanding its sales team following the appointment of new managing director Giulio Libutti.
The cruiseline will have eight sales staff including representatives covering Scotland and Ireland for the first time.
Libutti also plans to strengthen the sales support, development and call centre departments of the business. He said: “We want to enlarge our position in the market. I believe in the trade and want to work with agents and hear their ideas. The vast majority of our business goes through agents and I want it to stay that way.”
The trade should be targeting those who have never cruised before, he added. “We need to work on helping people realise how good value it is to cruise, rather than stay in a hotel. There will be a huge increase in capacity for 2009/10 but I believe there will be the demand to match.”
Libutti was previoulsy senior vice president for North America and Mexico at Alitalia Airlines.