Giles Hawke, who recently stepped down as executive director of MSC Cruises, was announced as the new chief executive of the Bromley-based company last week. He will take up the position on May 1.

The company includes Cosmos Tours and Cruises, Avalon Waterways and direct-sell business Archers Holidays.

Hugh Morgan, executive chairman, said that the new appointment was designed to help the company “significantly grow [its] market share in the touring and cruise business”.

Hawke told TTG he was looking forward to learning more about the river cruise sector, having explored a number of ships at the Clia river cruise convention in November.

“The opportunity is massive for Cosmos Tours and for Avalon,” he said. “I went to the river convention in November without knowing that I would be in this role – I had no idea about it at that stage.

“Seeing the quality of the ships really pleasantly surprised me – I saw just what good ships they are.”

Hawke admitted that he had yet to experience a river cruise itself, but said initially he wanted to focus on understanding the company as a whole.

“[The sector] is new in many ways to me, but tour operating is tour operating, whether in cruise, or something else. It’s making sure that we’re providing what the customer wants and making sure it’s really easy to book the product.

“The first thing is to understand the business and the people that drive the business. I don’t have any preconceived ideas – I want to understand where there are opportunities.

Looking at Avalon specifically, Hawke said: “The key point is to pull out what is different about Avalon. I’ve had some calls from UK agents since the news broke about what a great product it is and I just want to talk to them about it, and what we should be majoring on in our communication to the trade.

“The target is increasing volume and looking at which travel agents aren’t selling the product. Then I want to experience it,” he added.