New role for another former Carnival Cruise Line colleague

Carnival Cruise Line marketing and PR manager Cameron Watling, who was among a number to leave the line after it shuttered its UK office last month, has joined Celestyal in a like role. Watling will be tasked with driving brand growth and boosting trade and consumer engagement, reporting to Anna Gregori – Celestyal's brand, marketing, PR and customer experience vice-president. “Cameron brings a wealth of experience, a real trade focus and sharp commercial acumen to our talented and growing team,” Gregori said. “We are just getting started, and this appointment is testament to our ambitions as a global brand and leading force in immersive, destination-focused cruising.” Over the course of his 12-year career, Watling has held roles at the likes of Millennium Hotels, Reebok and Adidas.

Richard Carrick bows out as CIM Travel Group president

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Travel Group has appointed Richard Singer (pictured) as its new president after Richard Carrick stood down following a 15-year stint. Ice Travel Group chief executive Singer will join the group, which is run on a voluntary basis, on 1 July. “I look forward to continuing to work with CIM on learning and development opportunities for travel marketers throughout their careers,” he said. Prior to becoming Ice Travel Group’s chief executive, he was chief executive of icelolly.com. He has also held roles as Europe and Australia president at Travelzoo and was general manager at The Telegraph’s travel section.

TTC promotes DaSilva as part of trade-focused restructure and growth plan

The Travel Corporation (TTC) has promoted interim chief executive Melissa DaSilva to the role of chief sales officer and deputy chief executive as part of a restructure and recruitment drive to bolster support for the trade and boost growth across its touring and cruise divisions. DaSilva, who joined TTC in 2013 after two decades in retail travel, will head up all global sales functions for touring to create a centralised structure while maintaining local sales support and engagement. “Our trade partners are critical to our success,” she said. “This plan is about ensuring our brands are easier to sell, better supported, and more competitively positioned in every market. We’re investing in the systems, tools and partnerships that help our trade community grow with us.” As part of the restructuring effort, TTC will also expand its on the road sales team and create a new inside sales team to cultivate new and existing partnerships.

Lindblad Expeditions creates UK advisory board to support agents

Lindblad Expeditions has created its first-ever UK travel advisory board to further support travel agents across the country. The board will comprise Panache Cruises boss James Cole (pictured right), Mundy Cruising sales and marketing director Alex Loizou and Fred Olsen Travel retail director Paul Hardwick (pictured left), among others. The group will meet four times a year virtually as well as once in person to discuss new product and marketing ideas, while also giving feedback on Lindblad Expeditions’ performance and business initiatives. The first in-person meeting will take place on 2 October in London and will be hosted by several Lindblad executives, including sales vice-president Christine Stevens. “Lindblad Expeditions is a ‘founded by family’ business and we want to create this same feeling of family with our agent community in the UK,” said head of UK sales Danielle Bates. “The introduction of the advisory board is our first step towards doing this and I’m confident our founding members will play a crucial role in guiding our growth in the UK and navigating the evolving expedition travel market.” Each board member will also be invited to try the product for themselves by going on an expedition to the Galapagos, Antarctica or the Arctic.

G Adventures to increase support for agents in the north-west

Anthony McIntyre has joined G Adventures as its newest global purpose specialist. In his new role, McIntyre will oversee the north-west and surrounding areas. “I wanted to join G Adventures because making a difference to people’s holidays – helping them discover new experiences and places – is such a rewarding part of my work,” he said. “I can’t wait to start meeting agents, building those key relationships and supporting them in their role. I always strive to be the best at what I do, and this is a role that mixes everything I love about work and travel.”

Prior to joining G Adventures, McIntyre held a variety of travel roles, including a team manager role at Tui Group. In his latest role at Thomas Cook, he managed a nationwide team dealing with customer issues.

InteleTravel 'completes team expansion for the year' with two new hires

InteleTravel has added two to its UK team, completing its expansion for the year. Kelly Dumo joins from Carnival Cruise Line following the closure of its UK office and will take up a newly created administration coordinator role. Sophie Cushing, meanwhile, joins as finance executive. Cushing, a former TMC Group quality and finance assistant, will report into head of finance Chris Walsh. "I'm comfortable we have now completed our team expansion for this year," said UK and Ireland managing director Tricia Handley-Hughes. "With another record-breaking year, new initiatives in place and more growth on the horizon, this team sets us up for exciting plans ahead." The appointments follow the additions of Kelly Cookes and Alex Brown. Advantage Travel Partnership chief commercial officer Cookes will join InteleTravel on 1 July as commercial director, a newly created role, while Brown, a former Hotelshop customer service agent, joined InteleTravel earlier this month as training manager.

RateHawk appoints former Yalago boss Astrid Kastberg as new MD

RateHawk has appointed Astrid Kastberg as its new managing director. In her new role, Kastberg has been tasked with expanding the company, overseeing development of business strategy and managing Ratehawk’s global team. Prior to joining RateHawk, Kastberg held a variety of roles in the travel sector, including managing director at Gold Medal parent dnata’s trade-facing bed bank, Yalago. “This role is focused on maintaining that growth pace and consolidating the efforts of 500 commercial specialists within the B2B business unit,” said Ilya Kravtsov, chief commercial officer at RateHawk parent Emerging Travel Group.