Explora Journeys has recruited Samantha Langton to the new Brisbane-based position of Business Relationship Lead, commencing mid-November, LATTE can exclusively reveal.
Langton has over 20 years travel and cruise industry experience and joins from Royal Caribbean International where she has been for five-and-a-half years, most recently as Strategic Account Manager for the past four. Her career includes stints with APTMS and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, and more than 15 years in the retail agency space with Flight Centre.
Speaking exclusively with LATTE aboard EXPLORA I in the North Atlantic, Nicole Costantin, Head of Sales APAC for Explora Journeys told LATTE Langton was a natural fit for the ultra-luxury cruise line.
She will work alongside Gillian Seller and James McCullagh, who joined Explora Journeys in a similar position earlier this year, handling the Virtuoso and Helloworld accounts respectively. Langton will take charge of the Flight Centre
Travel Group account, and she and McCullagh will split other Explora Journeys’ accounts in the APAC between them.
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Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, Explora Journeys is expecting to have someone on the ground in Singapore in the coming weeks and has flagged the possibility of a New Zealand-based executive. Costantin is also keen to have another Experience Centre member join the office in Sydney, with recruitment for a future Ambassador to support Wanda Ferrand underway.
“Wanda is actively recruiting now for another Ambassador. She has two relationship consultants but needs a third and potentially a fourth very quickly,” she said.
The expanding team in Australia will relocate to a new HQ within MSC Cruises’ office at Barangaroo, Sydney in the coming weeks, relocating from Level 3 to a larger suite on Level 5.
Chris Austin, Chief Sales Officer for Explora Journeys said Costantin had been an outstanding addition to the brand since her appointment in July 2022.
“We’ve got Nicole (Costantin), Gillian (Seller) and James (McCullagh) at the moment in sales and obviously we want to continue to grow, and when you’ve got the team and bandwidth you can do a lot more.”
That expanded presence includes an intention to launch branded roadshows and travel advisor training programs in the Australian market.
“The team has been very focussed on fulfilling the request from partners,” Austin said.
“At the moment the big focus is getting people to experience the ship because we’re not sailing in Australian waters, so people have to come to us, and there’s a lot of excitement of people quite willing and happy to do that, so we’ll continue that drive,” he said.
Langton will commence in the role with Explora Journeys effective 13 November 2023.