Manager, Land Product Development

SP Vessel Buyer LLC•Miami, FL

just now

About The Position

This position serves as the regional manager of land product procurement and development for Azamara, responsible for the creation, curation and optimization of the brand’s Shore Excursions and land products including mid-cruise land experiences, events, private experiences, attraction tickets, transportation services and tours for a specific geographical region. The programs represent revenue and incorporate all ships of Azamara. The position is responsible for identifying product needs and procuring travel products with vendors. It oversees all product content and delivery to onboard teams and identifies new opportunities that would provide revenue growth and guest satisfaction. A continuous focus is placed on guest satisfaction as it drives revenue; emphasis is placed on retooling and optimizing existing products as well as adding and deleting of products as needed, particularly through internal and vendor program reviews. Incumbent identifies opportunities then partners with the Commercial and Onboard Revenue teams of Revenue Management in the development of new product and revenue improvements of existing product. This includes, but is not limited to, requesting and reviewing proposals, contracting new vendors and expanding the program into non-contracted regions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in related discipline or equivalent, directly related experience.
7-10 years of related experience in the tours and attraction sector, including roles within a cruise line, DMC or tour operator, and on-line tour retailer businesses, with an emphasis in worldwide shore excursion operations.
Requires extensive knowledge of tours and attractions and local tour operators in many global destinations.
Strong negotiating skills and demonstrated experience in requesting and assessing proposals for tour operation services.
Ability to analyze trends and pricing/costing data and financial knowledge to perform responsibilities related to cost control.
Demonstrated supervisory skills, including training, development and management of day-to-day activities.
Excellent interpersonal skills to communicate with all levels of management, customers and employees. Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community.
Strong common sense to handle strict confidentiality using discretion in dealing with issues of business and personal nature.
Experience to handle multiple tasks in a fast pace environment as well as to work effectively under pressure.
Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office products including, but not limited to SharePoint, Teams, Excel and Outlook. Working knowledge of personal computers with associated financial software and communication packages.
Ability to travel up to 15% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Shipboard or in-destination experience preferred. Prior experience working with tour aggregators and digital marketplaces preferred. Direct focus on e-commerce conversion of tour product sales an asset.

Responsibilities

Develop and manage shore excursion programs (to include tours, activities, multi-day land packages, events, and shuttles) in relevant ports for Azamara. Deal directly with at least 50 to 200 tour operators. Oversee 1,000+ tours and transact with approximately 300 ports. Ensure all products have adequate inventory to maximize e-commerce sales.
Curate premium tour content that represents an enhanced customer experience and is unique to the brand.
Procure high-yield travel products by sourcing new vendors and integrating with marketplace platforms and tour product aggregators. Focus is on tour marketability, alignment with brand essence, and the support of the e-commerce business, achieving a high rate of purchase conversion.
Manage workflow to direct and indirect reports, maintaining a continuous flow of product to the website. Supervise day-to-day duties of a tour administrator and Destination concierge in the completions of essential duties and responsibilities. Document any performance issues and provide coaching as needed. Recruit and make hiring recommendations as needed.
Prepare Requests for Proposals, identify potential vendors and solicit bids. Assess and evaluate proposals, recommending tour operator appointments. Negotiate product content for shore excursions to ensure competitive pricing.
Prepare and deliver program reviews to tour operators and brand management, with a focus on continuous improvement and originality of product. Responsible for maintaining the brand’s tour quality standards and providing feedback to the tour operators with expected actions within specified timeframe.
Manage and evaluate new tour opportunities; respond to competitive threats and guest trends within assigned region. Monitor other cruise line deployment, OTA tour product, tour trends and destination events to identify opportunities do develop other destination or tour products.
Ensure programs and operators are in compliance with Azamara’s Tour Operator Agreement, any health and safety protocols, in collaboration with Risk Management and Legal. Prepare all related exhibits for Tour Operator Agreements and Amendments to Tour Operator Agreement. Onboard new vendors.
Strategize and collaborate with Onboard Revenue (OBR), Commercial and Revenue Management teams to find new and/or improved ways of maximizing revenue streams. Direct interaction with shipboard shore excursion managers and other shipboard management onboard the vessel to provide product, tour operation, and sales support as needed.
Work cross functionally with internal teams to maximize profits, maintain a high overall NPS score for Shore Excursions and develop strategies that achieve the highest ROIC. Interact with various departments, inclusive of, but not limited, to Azamara Deployment, Sales & Marketing, Hotel Operations, Guest Port Services, and the international offices.
Prepare talking points for marketing campaigns. Review marketing materials for accuracy and advise marketing team on products to highlight in destination guides, website, direct mail, email communication etc. Analyze and select key products to promote cruises and shore excursion sales. Conduct training meetings, presentations and seminars to increase product awareness internally and with travel partners.
Represent the corporation at selected governmental meetings, association functions, cruise industry events, travel industry conventions, and other meetings as required.
Participate in legal depositions as required.
Stay aware of world events and the affect they may have on travel and corresponding tour operations. Perform site inspections of geographic areas and tour operator product in regions of responsibility.
Maintain all related product information in MXP, Sharepoint, Seaware.