Former Seabourn cruise director Ryan Bishop is one of three new appointments made by Crystal as the line looks to enhance its trade focus and support

Bishop joins the luxury line as regional sales manager south having recently served as a cruise director for Seabourn and Viking.

His remit will be to drive trade sales performance and expand the market presence of Crystal within the region. He will report in to Stephen Joyner, Crystal’s senior sales manager UK & Ireland.

Bishop is joined by Michael Steffl as director of sales EMEA, where he will be responsible for growth and trade sales distribution across Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Having spent more than 20 years with Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Steffl will use his experience in international cruise distribution to position Crystal amongst various key sellers within his regions.

Finally, Ana Torres joins as inside sales executive UK & EMEA, where she will provide support of the reservation system and CRM while providing support for key account partners and general sales agents (GSAs).

Matias Lira, SVP trade sales LATAM, UK & EMEA, Crystal, said: “In June we announced our plan to expand our sales presence within the UK & EMEA. We believe that providing our advisor community with personalised one-to-one support is the key to expanding and growing these regions with incredible opportunity to experience Crystal.

“I am happy to announce the appointment of three individuals who will contribute to this success. Michael Steffl, Ryan Bishop and Ana Torres have each started within their respective capacities this month and will begin contributing in their verticals and regions shortly. We are also continuing other hiring efforts to further expand our support in key regions.”

The news follows the launch of Crystal’s new online engine, which is designed to streamline the booking process for its travel agent partners in the UK, the line says.