GENOA — Costa Cruises has made key changes to its executive team in preparation of its resumption of cruises on May 1.

Mario Zanetti has been promoted to President of Costa Cruises, a role that had been temporarily filled by Michael Thamm, Group CEO of Costa Group & Carnival Asia. As President, Zanetti will oversee Costa’s branding around the world, with the aim of ensuring profitable and sustainable growth in the long term in Europe, South America and Asia.

Zanetti first joined Costa in 1999 in the Revenue Management unit and in 2017 was named President of Costa Asia. Since July 2020, he has served as Chief Commercial Officer of Costa Cruises Europe.

Meanwhile, Roberto Alberti has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer of Costa Cruises, which was previously held by Zanetti. Alberti will be responsible for overall commercial operations, including Sales, Revenue Management and Marketing worldwide, reporting to Zanetti. Alberti’s Costa career spans over 15 years where in 2016 he joined the CEO Office. After the position of VP Strategic Development, in 2019 he was appointed SVP & Chief Strategy Officer of the Costa Group.

Both Zanetti and Alberti will be based in Costa Cruises’ headquarters in Genoa.

“The pause in our ship operations has been an opportunity to work on enhancing the Costa organization to make our company stronger, ready for the restart with renewed energy, a clear commercial strategy and a greater customer-centric approach,” said Thamm. “We look to the future with optimism. With this new organization we have the right people and skills to succeed in developing innovative strategies to attract and retain our customers through every channel and every source market.”

Earlier this month Costa announced that it is pushing back the resumption date of the Costa Smeralda from March 27 to May 1 due to ongoing travel restrictions. Costa Smeralda is also set to return to sailing on June 12.