PHOTO: MSC Divina in Grand Harbour, Malta. (photo via Flickr/KB)
In preparation for MSC Cruises‘ upcoming U.S. expansion, the company has hired Holly Sievers as Manager of Host and Home-Based Accounts and Brett Draper as Manager of Corporate and Incentive Sales for North America.
The MSC Divina is already sailing from Miami, Florida, and the new MSC Seaside is set to soon join this December. Plus, the recently launched MSC Meraviglia will homeport in North America during 2019 as well.
So, the time is ripe for a boost in the Swiss-based cruise line’s domestic sales force.
“As we grow in the North American market, a key priority for MSC Cruises is ensuring we have dedicated teams focused on all distribution channels,” said Joe Jiffo, senior vice president of sales for MSC Cruises USA, the North American arm of MSC Cruises, in a press release.
“With the home-based and M.I.C.E. channels being extremely important and rapidly growing sectors for MSC, we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome both Holly and Brett to our team.”
Sievers has over 20 years experience in the travel industry working in marketing and advertising as well as assisting travel agencies. She is also known for having founded an international advertising and marketing company, developing multimedia campaigns for global travel partners.
Before coming to MSC Cruises, Sievers was the Southwest and Central Region Business Development Manager at Exclusive Travel Group. She has also had other roles at Carnival Cruise Line, Funjet Vacations and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
READ MORE: MSC Cruises Has Big Plans for North America
Sievers will apply her expertise to marketing, sales, training and education as they relate to host agency/home-based agency accounts in addition to its Interline accounts.
Draper has a decade of experience in the cruise industry specifically having worked as a charter service manager at Norwegian Cruise Line and an event manager at Holland America Line. He was also on the sales specialist team at Lindblad-National Geographic Expeditions.
In order to raise brand awareness in the M.I.C.E. sector, Draper will head up corporate relationships looking towards the North American Meetings, Incentives and Charter market.
This post first appeared on TravelPulse.