Phil Gardner was appointed to Ambassador Cruise Line's Executive Team as Chief Commercial Officer in February 2022 to drive the company's commercial strategy and ambitious growth plans.  With responsibility for the premium value, no-fly operator's trade, sales and marketing functions as well as itinerary planning and yield management, he joined the business from Fosun Tourism Group, where, as CCO, he played a key role in the relaunch of Thomas Cook.

With more than 20 years’ experience in the travel industry, Phil has considerable strategic and commercial expertise in sales, product, brand development, transformation, operations and customer engagement. He began his career as a graduate trainee in the Product team at First Choice in 2001 before moving into Business Improvement and working as Integration Programme Manager during the First Choice/Thomson merger in 2007-2008. He went on to lead the flight-only division of the TUI UK business before heading-up the commercial arm of TUI Cruises. He moved to Thomas Cook in 2015 where, as a member of the UK Management Board, he held a number of senior leadership roles including Director of Sales, E-Commerce and Marketing.