Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has appointed Caroline Hitchen as General Manager of its newly established CruiseHQ wholesale division, which launched late last month.
Hitchen will be responsible for the new dedicated B2B cruise wholesaler, and will be tasked with positioning CruiseHQ as a “new-age trade B2B model” for travel advisors across the FCTG network of brands and partners, including the independents division.
She has a strong background in the travel industry, having most recently led Express Travel Group’s wholesaler Creative Cruising for four-and-a-half years, and having prior to that enjoyed stints with Pan Pacific Hotels Group, The Travel Corporation, and Destination NSW.
FCTG Chief Executive Officer Supply Greg Parker described Hitchen’s appointment as a “major win” in cementing the company’s commitment to bringing a dedicated B2B cruise wholesaler to the Australian market.
“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.
“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.”
CruiseHQ will launch with exclusives and a curate offering of packages, building the best rates with wholesaler airfares, and pre and post land and touring.
The wholesaler’s leadership team is now in place, following the earlier announcements of Head of Operations Tina Giannopoulos, Head of Product Carina Mullen, Marketing Manager Caitlyn Paris, and Business Development Manager Viktoryia Shliazhko.
