Amanda Darrington, sales director for UK and Ireland, said the move, announced at the beginning of January was intended to facilitate “more seamless relationships” with trade partners.

Vicky Billing and Lucy Preece were installed in the roles of head of retail north and head of retail south respectively, earlier this month.

The positions, reporting directly into Darrington, see the pair leading a team of four regional sales managers each. The appointments follow the departure of head of retail Sarah Weetman in November.

Darrington told TTG the changes were “all about getting into a granular level of detail” in how the line educates and supports travel consultants.

She said under the new structure Billing and Preece have been tasked with outlining commercial plans between the line and key trade accounts such as agent consortia.

The approach would see campaigns and strategies “driven from the top down” making sure they were “relevant throughout the year” with sales and marketing support.

Darrington said she believed the method would see Royal continue to grow its trade channels during the next 12 months. “We’ve had a number of agents approaching us to help them start selling cruise, so now we can be more locally focused and make sure agents are selling the right ship to the right customer,” she added.