APT & Travelmarvel has appointed Darren Birch as its new marketing and CRM manager for the UK and Ireland.

Birch joined APT at the start of December, and his hire marks the latest investment in a recruitment campaign which has seen the river cruise, yachting and touring specialist grow its UK headcount by 30% in recent months.

Reporting to head of marketing Katie Elson, Birch will oversee APT & Travelmarvel’s marketing and CRM team day-to-day, bringing the operator’s B2B and B2C campaigns and a suite of new product to market in 2024.

Birch brings a wealth of travel, cruise and agent-facing industry experience from his previous roles in sales manager positions with Virgin Holidays, an eight-year tenure at Emerald Cruises as UK brand manager and global brand manager, and, most recently, an interim position with Travel Counsellors as customer marketing manager.

In his new role, he will work to ensure APT & Travelmarvel’s agent partners gain “maximum benefit” from campaigns, incentives, tactical offers, assets, and training; help agents to optimise their sales; improve customer targeting and retention; and grow the volume and profitability of their river cruise and touring business.

Birch to help boost agent engagement with APT

Birch and his team will populate the APT Agent Club with sales, marketing, digital and training materials, as well as keeping the hub’s community of agents informed about fam trips, incentives, and special offers.

“Having watched APT evolve from a newly launched brand in the UK into a major player in the cruise and touring arena, I am excited to have joined such an ambitious and dynamic company,” Birch said.

“The marketing and CRM team has done a stellar job, and we have another exciting year ahead of us, thanks to the significant investment that APT & Travelmarvel is making into the diversity of its product, the elevation of its fleet, and the quality of support for the trade.”