Stuart Milan was recently named North America president of Riviera Travel in a series of leadership changes following the company's rebrand from Riviera River Cruises in the U.S. Popular in the U.K. Riviera is lesser known in the States, and the company is aiming to accelerate its growth here. Milan met with tours and river cruise editor Brinley Hineman during the ASTA River Cruise Expo in Vienna to discuss the increased emphasis on building its North America client base.
Stuart Milan
Q: Why is Riviera Travel putting so much focus on North America right now?
A: We have been in North America for a little while but were only there for about two years before Covid came along. So we had to put a hiatus on the expansion within North America. Once Covid ended, we had to build back the U.K. business. We're back with a very good profit in the U.K., which enables us to put more resources, energy, time and effort into the North America expansion. We've now launched our office in Fort Lauderdale. We're now giving much more effort and focus into the U.S. within our own team. We're now starting to become a properly integrated business within North America. At the moment, we're only selling it to the Brits and the odd person outside of the U.K., and we only do English-speaking markets that happen to hear about us. Well, we decided, let's be much more proactive about education and allowing people to hear about us so they can enjoy the great product.
Q: What led to the rebrand?
A: Everything else was Riviera Travel, and the U.S. was the one outlier. Riviera Travel in the U.K. is about 100,000 passengers; we only sell 50% of that to river cruising. The other 50% is actually small-ship cruising, European land tours, long-haul land touring. There were two reasons we've changed the name in the U.S.: One is because we want to be a consistent global brand. In every other source market, we're Riviera Travel, and the U.S. market was the only one that was Riviera River Cruises. And two, because of how we want to evolve the product by combining some of our signature tours with our river cruise product in the American market, it then just doesn't make sense to pigeonhole ourselves as river cruises.
Q: How will the recent leadership changes bolster your North America expansion?
A: I've been with the business since 2019, and I've led the trade growth in the U.K. market, which has spearheaded the majority of our overall business in the U.K. Because I know the business, I know how the U.K. works, I know how our products work, our systems work. Marilyn [Conroy, the company's new executive vice president of business development,] knows everyone. She knows the American market very well, so she's in a great spot to help us continue to grow. We brought on Francis [Riley, senior vice president of trade sales and partner relations,] to shore up the trade sales side and make sure that our processes are working.
Q: Have you noticed differences between your U.S. and U.K. clients, and will that influence the product?
A: I wouldn't say there are that many differences when it comes to product execution. We have been speaking to the American trade for a number of months now to make sure that we evolve our current proposition, to make sure it fits the American market. Hence why we're going to be all-inclusive in 2026 and why we have the ability to put flights and hotel transfers onto our river cruising itineraries. ... We're also going to have to make some adaptations in terms of how we deliver that product, and then obviously that will impact the U.K. consumer. We're not going to do anything radical. It's just small tweaks, small changes.