Jennifer in the wilderness

FORMER Carnival Australia Vice President Jennifer Vandekreeke has formally taken on a new role as the Head of Commercial and Guest Experience at NRMA Expeditions, the conglomerate’s recently launched tourism investment division (TD 24 Mar).

Speaking with Travel Daily this afternoon, Vandekreeke said she was attracted to the role because of the prospect of building a brand from the bottom up.

“I had the opportunity of building Carnival from scratch in this market and now I’m going to turn those exact same skills to building the Expeditions division into a branded experience,” Vandekreeke enthused.

Announcing her departure from Carnival in Jun after 13 years with the brand for an unnamed venture, the experienced travel executive will now be charged with growing NRMA’s new tourism arm into a premier wilderness brand, which already includes a host of recently added Tasmanian properties (TD 23 Mar), including Freycinet Lodge and Cradle Mountain Hotel.

“We’ve got some pretty big ambitions,” Vandekreeke confirmed, “we’re looking at a lot of different opportunities... we’re going to build a brand and a business that is going to showcase the very best of Australia’s wilderness and hopefully even branching out into some neighbouring countries.”

While which specific overseas expansion markets are currently under wraps, Vandekreeke did note NRMA’s minority stake in Coral Expeditions and its sailings to countries like PNG.

Vandekreeke will report into NRMA Expeditions CEO Rachel Wiseman and be based in Sydney.