Flight Centre Travel Group’s (FCTG) new cruise wholesale division, CruiseHQ, has a leader, with the appointment of Caroline Hitchen as general manager.
The new GM of Cruise Wholesale at CruiseHQ brings 20 years of experience after tenures with Creative Cruising, Pan Pacific Hotels Group, The Travel Corporation and Destination NSW.
The launch of CruiseHQ was announced last month, along with the return of FCTG’s Cruiseabout brand.
Launching with fly/cruise packages, CruiseHQ promises to be “an outstanding B2B marketplace delivering exceptional service, products and platforms for agency partners”.
FCTG CEO of Supply Greg Parker calls the appointment “a major win” for the group and its partners.
“Caroline has the specialist experience in cruise wholesaling we need to ensure we can deliver on our vision of an unrivalled partnering model and new age B2B wholesale model,” he said.
“We are committed to making sure CruiseHQ is best-to-market and promotes real value and I believe Caroline is the right leader to help us achieve this.”
Two weeks ago, FCTG also unveiled four key appointments for its dedicated B2B cruise wholesaler, including Tina Giannapolous (Head of Operations), Carina Mullen (Head of Product), Caitlyn Paris (Marketing Manager) and Viktoryia Schliazhko (Business Development Manager).
A new model
Parker, Hitchen, and their team are positioning CruiseHQ as a “new age trade B2B model” for agents within the FCTG network of brands and partners.
This includes their burgeoning Independents’ division, which has emerged as the fourth most profitable division within the FCTG Group.
“Under the new age CruiseHQ B2B model, agents will be able to access exclusive pricing and products across airfares, charters, groups, nets and commits that can be bundled together with hotels, transfers and tours for end-to-end cruise holiday itineraries,” Parker added.
At last year’s National Travel Industry Awards (NTIA), Hitchens helped guide Creative Cruising to the Most Outstanding Wholesaler award.
Read our interview with FCTG Global Leisure CEO James Kavanagh about the launch of CruiseHQ and the return of the Cruiseabout brand.
