PHOTO: Now that the MSC Divina is based year-round in Miami, the company is doubling its sales force. (Courtesy of MSC Cruises)
MSC Cruises is aggressively expanding its sales efforts aimed at travel agents in North America. The Italian company, which has based the MSC Divina year-round in Miami, plans to more than double the number of inside and field sales representatives, from 20- to 40-plus in the next two months or so, said Rick Sasso, president and CEO of MSC Cruises USA.
"It is an evolution. We decided to bring our bigger and better ship here, we decided it would be here year-round here, and we improved our product drastically to meet North American tastes," Sasso told TravelPulse. "The initial response has been tremendous."
Growth for MSC Cruises depends on travel agents. "We are very much the travel agents' cruise line," Sasso said. "We are focused on constantly improving our relationship with the trade. We know they are our biggest fans and we want them to know we are their biggest fans."
Sasso said plans are to hire roughly a dozen inside sales reps and another dozen in the field "from the Midwest to the Northeast to the South." The company has engaged long-time cruise sales executive Maurice Zarmati as a consultant to help recruit and recommend candidates.
Sasso hinted that the sales team expansion could be laying the groundwork for growth by MSC Cruises in North America, an area he said will likely have a stable economy over the next five years. "That could be a strategic opportunity to bring more ships here as well," he said. "North America can be a place to have more strategic deployment. You always need to prepare for that, so we're preparing now."
Along with the larger sales team, MSC Cruises will further improve travel agent policies. "We're rolling out other partnerships, better group policies and better documentation," he said. "We believe it starts with people being more visible and more available. Our policies will coincide with that."
MSC Cruises is one of the rare cruise lines that pays commission on shore excursions. The line pays five percent on pre-booked excursions and on group tours that can be customizable.
Those interested in applying for the open sales positions can email [email protected]. The ads are posted on LinkedIn.
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