Luxury river cruise line AmaWaterways has announced that Neil Dudley has joined the company as business development manager (BDM), responsible for Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Dudley joins the existing Canadian sales team of Sandra Gardiner, director national accounts and BDM for Atlantic Canada, and Shauna Carter, BDM for British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

With 20 years’ experience in the travel industry, Dudley began his travel career focusing on Australia with stints at Goway Travel and Boomerang Tours, before moving over to business development with Scenic and Emerald Waterways. He brings a wealth of international travel expertise, in depth river cruise knowledge and strong travel industry client relationships.

“What impressed us the most was Neil’s exceptional support of his retail travel partners,” said Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-owner of AmaWaterways. “We have exciting plans to grow our current fleet of 20 award-winning ships and Neil is going to be a terrific asset as we step up our sales and marketing initiatives in Canada to drive valuable sales leads to our travel partners.”

“I am very excited to be joining the AmaFamily,” said Dudley. “I love the challenge of bringing new products to the market and with three new ships launching in 2019 including the revolutionary AmaMagna, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be part of this next phase of growth for this innovative industry leader.”

“I’ve always admired the innovative luxury product of Ama Waterways but even more their dedication to working exclusively with our valued travel agency partners.” Dudley continued. “People looking to cruise the various rivers around the world trust their experienced travel agents and I was excited to work with a company that trusts their preferred travel agent partners equally as much.

Since launching 15 years ago, AmaWaterways has enjoyed remarkable support from the Canadian travel agent community, based in part on the company’s focus on training and providing FAM opportunities to enable travel agents to gain important first hand product experience.

All AmaWaterways cruises can be booked in Canadian dollars and promotions advertised to the public include port charges in compliance with TICO and OPC regulations.

The cruise line is also offering a limited-time offer, giving Canadian residents a special $400 Fall Savings per stateroom on all new bookings for 2018 departures, when booked by December 31, 2017. The limited time offer is combinable with most retail and consortium offers as well as Past Passenger Privilege and Onboard Future Cruise Benefit Programs.

“Canadians are resilient international travellers.” said Sandra Gardiner. “Not only were they early enthusiasts for river cruising but they have remained very loyal repeat guests for AmaWaterways. Our Canadian Resident Offer is one way of saying thank you to our Canadian guests for making 2017 another successful year for AmaWaterways.”

For more information on this offer, login to the Travel Agent Portal on the AmaWaterways website.