Mercury Holidays has appointed Christian Armond as chief marketing officer, a new role for the business, to “help with its ambitious growth plans”.

It comes as the travel firm, which was established in the 1980s and specialises in worldwide guided tours, plans to “invest more into marketing”, Armond tells Marketing Week, so the business felt it was the right time to hire its first CMO.

Armond has been tasked with “accelerating” Mercury Holidays’ digital marketing strategy, with a particular focus on “performance-led” marketing.

He has extensive experience in the travel sector, most recently as group marketing director of Ocean Holidays, a role he held until July 2023. Before that he spent two years at Love Holidays and more than four at TUI in senior marketing positions.

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He adds: “I’m hugely excited to be joining Mercury Holidays, and look forward to working with the team to support their growth strategy in direct and trade channels, and building on the company’s success as one of the UK’s leading independent tour operators.”

Mercury Holidays is the latest brand to introduce the CMO role. It follows the appointment of Mark Brown as Hovis’s first CMO and Warner Holidays’ appointment of David Murdin, as well as the promotion of Revolut’s Antoine Le Nel to the new role of chief growth and marketing officer, all in July.