Norwegian Cruise Line celebrated its eighth annual “Norwegian Cruise Line Partners First Awards.” These awards recognize the outstanding work of its distribution partners, honoring the leading companies in sales in the Spanish market. Tour operators, travel agencies, management groups, and representatives from Norwegian Cruise Line gathered at the gala, which took place in Madrid during FITUR.
The event was presented by Francis Riley, SVP International Sales & Operations and Christian Böll, Managing Director Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as the great team from Norwegian Cruise Line.
Agents are a key factor for Norwegian Cruise Line, an aspect that has led to the creation of the “Partners First” philosophy, which reflects the company’s strong commitment to its sales agents and is based on four pillars: 'Recognition and Reward', 'Training', 'Communication' and 'Easy Collaboration'.
The list of winners was announced by Sonia López Corrales, Senior Manager of Business Development, who presented the awards to the winning companies. Within the six categories of the commercial sections that make up the awards, the following companies were recognized for their sales leadership: Viajes El Corte Inglés – Tourmundial Cruceros (Number 1 Tour Operator in Sales), the award was accepted by Carmen Santa Ana (Cruise Product Manager); Logitravel (Number 1 Online Travel Agency in Sales), the award was accepted by Alex Busquets (Cruise Contracting Director); Viajes Carrefour SLU (Number 1 Fastest Growing Travel Agency Chain), the award was accepted by Juan Teixidor (Head of Marketing); Crucerum.com (Number 1 Fastest Growing Online Travel Agency), the award was accepted by Gonzalo Almenara (Manager). Veturis Travel (Tour Operator No. 1 in Growth) collected the Jesús Oya award (Cruise Department) and finally Grupo Airmet de Gestión Comercial (Management Group No. 1 in Associated Agencies with Sales), collected the Rafael Sobrino award (General Manager).
Christian Böll stated: “Over the past few years, we have experienced continuous growth in the Spanish market, which would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our partners in Spain. We are delighted to have these excellent partners to offer prospective Spanish passengers the outstanding benefits of a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise. The Spanish market remains one of our most important, and with strong business partnerships, our innovative cruise concept offering unprecedented freedom and flexibility, and our diverse cruise program—which will see five ships in European waters in 2017 and 2018, including the Norwegian Epic sailing weekly from Barcelona—we are well-positioned for future growth.”
