Adolfo Perez, a 33-year veteran of Carnival Cruise Line, has been named the company’s vice president of trade sales and marketing.

In this role, Perez will be responsible for Carnival’s business development teams and trade marketing functions.  Perez starts his new position June 2 reporting to Lynn Torrent, Carnival’s executive vice president of sales and guest services.

“Adolfo is a seasoned travel professional with a true passion for cruising and an appreciation for the valuable and important role that travel agents play in the cruise-selling process,” said Christine Duffy, Carnival’s president. “We considered both internal and external candidates for this role and felt that Adolfo’s years of experience in the industry and his commitment to the agency community made him the best fit for the job.  I am confident that his outstanding leadership skills will serve the trade and our team of sales professionals in the field very well,” she added.

Perez’s experience includes serving as managing director of the company’s UK office where he established Carnival’s travel professional sales network and led the line’s strategic growth initiatives in that country, while overseeing all trade engagement and sales and marketing efforts.  He will continue to serve as head of commercial operations for Carnival’s UK business in his new role.

Perez joined Carnival in 1982 as an embarkation agent and has held multiple managerial positions within the company’s reservations and sales departments over the past three decades, including vice president of reservations sales, overseeing the line’s reservations contact centers where he developed many relationships within the travel agent community.  He most recently served as the company’s vice president of new markets and new product marketing.

“Working with travel agents for the better part of three decades has provided me with keen insight into the tremendous impact of agents on the overall success of our business,” Perez said. “I am thrilled and honored to lead the best sales organization in the travel industry as we continue to work with agents in developing new and innovative ways to grow their business,” he added.

A resident of Miami Beach, Fla., Perez earned a master’s degree in business administration from Florida International University in Miami, as well as a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) designation from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA).