Carnival Cruise Lines has named Adolfo Perez as the company's new vice president of trade sales and marketing.
In this role, Perez will be responsible for Carnival’s business development teams and trade marketing functions. Perez starts his new position June 2 reporting to Lynn Torrent, Carnival’s executive vice president of sales and guest services.
Travel Agent spoke briefly with Perez on Wednesday. "I'm going to be an advocate for the trade within Carnival Cruise Lines," he said. He said that since he had just started his new gig, it's too early to get into specifics of any changes or new programs, but stressed the line's easier-to-do-business-with approach will continue.
What should agents expect in the next month or so? Look for Perez to show up on some sales calls with Carnival's sales reps. "One key is I want to be accessible," he stressed. "I'm going to get out in the field." He wants to meet agents in their workplace, listen to their feedback and hear first-hand about their needs.
Perez says he'll also attend as many trade events as possible, and that he also plans to talk to Carnival's own sales team about their ideas too: "I'm going to engage with our sales reps."
Perez’s experience includes serving as managing director of the company’s UK office, where he established Carnival’s travel professional sales network and led the line’s strategic growth initiatives in that country, while overseeing all trade engagement and sales and marketing efforts. He will continue to serve as head of commercial operations for Carnival’s UK business in his new role.
Perez joined Carnival in 1982 as an embarkation agent and has held multiple managerial positions within the company’s reservations and sales departments over the past three decades, including vice president of reservations sales, overseeing the line’s reservations contact centers where he developed many relationships within the travel agent community.
He most recently served as the company’s vice president of new markets and new product marketing.
A resident of Miami Beach, FL, Perez earned a master’s degree in business administration from Florida International University in Miami, as well as a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) designation from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA).
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