Business Development Manager

Job Description Job Description About Century Cruises Century Cruises is a premium river cruise and cruise tour company with more than 30 years of experience delivering immersive and culturally enriching travel experiences throughout China and beyond. Internationally recognized for its luxury Yangtze River cruises, Century Cruises combines refined accommodations, curated itineraries, and attentive service to create seamless and memorable journeys for guests. Building on its long-standing success in China, Century Cruises continues to expand its international footprint with a growing portfolio of river cruise experiences across Europe and Egypt, offering travelers new ways to explore some of the world’s most iconic destinations with the same level of comfort, authenticity, and service excellence. As Century Cruises strengthens its North American presence, we are seeking an energetic, relationship-driven, and highly motivated Business Development Manager to help expand travel advisor partnerships, increase sales production, and grow brand awareness for our China, Yangtze River, Europe, and Egypt cruise experiences. This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in expanding one of Asia’s most established river cruise brands within the North American market while helping advisors confidently introduce clients to culturally immersive and premium travel experiences. Position Summary Reporting to the Vice President of Sales, the Business Development Manager will be responsible for driving B2B sales growth within an assigned territory through the development of strategic relationships with travel advisors, host agencies, consortia, luxury travel partners, and key accounts. This role focuses on increasing brand awareness, expanding advisor engagement, supporting FIT and group sales opportunities, delivering impactful product education, and executing sales and marketing initiatives that generate measurable revenue growth. The ideal candidate is a confident presenter, disciplined sales professional, relationship builder, and passionate advocate for experiential travel. This individual should be comfortable selling a differentiated premium product, educating advisors on emerging and culturally rich destinations, and helping partners convert curiosity into bookings. The selected candidate must reside on the West Coast of the United States, preferably in California, and ideally within 90 minutes of a major airport due to the travel requirements associated with the role. Key Responsibilities Sales Growth & Territory Development Develop and execute a strategic territory sales plan focused on increasing revenue, market share, and advisor engagement. Identify, prospect, and cultivate relationships with travel agencies, host agencies, consortia members, luxury advisors, river cruise specialists, Asia-focused advisors, and strategic partners. Manage and grow a portfolio of assigned accounts through proactive outreach, business development initiatives, relationship management, and strategic follow-up. Meet or exceed sales goals, booking targets, activity KPIs, training objectives, and group sales initiatives. Analyze sales performance, pipeline activity, and market opportunities to prioritize high-potential accounts and maximize production. Develop customized growth plans for key accounts, including training initiatives, marketing support, promotional opportunities, and advisor engagement strategies. Identify and support group sales opportunities in partnership with travel advisors, agency owners, affinity organizations, and strategic partners. Travel Advisor Education & Engagement Deliver engaging virtual and in-person presentations, webinars, trainings, sales calls, and destination education events. Educate advisors on Century Cruises’ luxury Yangtze River cruises, China cruise tours, and expanding Europe and Egypt river cruise portfolio. Translate product features into compelling advisor-focused selling points centered on immersive cultural experiences, premium service, convenience, luxury accommodations, and destination authenticity. Provide advisors with selling strategies, objection handling support, group development ideas, and client positioning guidance to help drive conversions and bookings. Help advisors identify ideal clients, including luxury travelers, culturally curious travelers, experienced cruisers, affinity groups, and bucket-list travelers seeking unique experiences. Relationship Management Serve as a primary sales contact and trusted business partner for travel advisors and agency leaders throughout the assigned territory. Build and maintain strong relationships with agency owners, managers, independent contractors, host agency teams, consortia contacts, and industry partners. Represent Century Cruises professionally at trade shows, conferences, networking events, webinars, ship visits, and industry functions. Collaborate closely with reservations, marketing, operations, product, and leadership teams to ensure travel partners receive exceptional support and service. Maintain a high level of responsiveness, professionalism, and follow-through to reinforce Century Cruises’ reputation as an advisor-friendly and commercially supportive partner. Marketing & Promotional Support Partner with sales and marketing leadership to execute territory-specific campaigns, promotions, co-op opportunities, and advisor engagement initiatives. Support advisors with available marketing materials, digital assets, presentations, social media content, and promotional tools. Identify opportunities for local, regional, and national partnerships that increase visibility and drive sales growth. Provide market feedback and competitive insights to help refine sales messaging, promotional strategies, and advisor resources. CRM, Reporting & Sales Discipline Maintain accurate and timely records of sales activity, account engagement, pipeline opportunities, trainings, events, and follow-up actions within the CRM platform. Prepare regular territory updates, forecasts, account reviews, and business development reports for leadership. Monitor performance metrics and adjust sales strategies as needed to maximize territory growth and advisor engagement. Qualifications Required 5–10 years of experience in sales, business development, account management, or the travel industry. Experience working with travel advisors, host agencies, consortia, cruise lines, river cruise brands, luxury travel companies, or tour operators strongly preferred. Proven ability to develop relationships, grow accounts, and drive measurable sales results. Strong presentation, communication, and storytelling skills with confidence delivering webinars, trainings, and in-person events. Solid understanding of B2B sales strategy, territory management, consultative selling, and advisor engagement. Ability to work independently in a remote environment while maintaining strong collaboration with internal teams. Excellent organizational skills, follow-through, and CRM discipline. Proficiency with Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams/Zoom, and CRM systems such as Salesforce. Experience with Seaware is a plus. Ability and willingness to travel regularly for agency visits, trade shows, conferences, sales events, and international travel as needed. Must possess a valid U.S. passport and be willing to obtain a Chinese visa and other international visas as required. Preferred Experience in cruise, river cruise, luxury travel, Asia travel, destination sales, or experiential travel brands. Existing relationships within the North American travel advisor community. Familiarity with positioning emerging or educational destinations that require advisor confidence-building and consultative selling. Knowledge of China, Asia, river cruising, cruise tours, luxury travel, or culturally immersive travel experiences. Success in This Role Includes Expanding advisor engagement and active account production Increasing FIT and group bookings across the assigned territory Developing high-value strategic partnerships Growing Century Cruises’ visibility within the travel advisor community Consistently achieving sales and activity goals while strengthening advisor confidence in the brand and destination portfolio Travel Requirements This is a remote position with regular travel required. Travel may include trade shows, agency visits, regional sales events, conferences, advisor trainings, FAM activities, and company meetings, including international travel as needed based on business demands and territory requirements. Why Join Century Cruises? Century Cruises offers the opportunity to represent a respected international cruise brand with more than 30 years of excellence in river cruising and culturally immersive travel. As the company continues expanding across North America, Europe, and Egypt, this role provides the opportunity to help shape strategic growth, strengthen advisor partnerships, and introduce travelers to some of the world’s most memorable destinations. For the right candidate, this is more than a sales position — it is an opportunity to become a destination storyteller, trusted industry partner, and key contributor to the continued global growth of Century Cruises. Equal Opportunity Employer Century Cruises is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a professional, inclusive, and respectful workplace. Employment decisions are based on business needs, qualifications, and individual merit.