Phil was born and has lived all his life beside the seaside in Blackpool in the United Kingdom. No stranger to the ocean, he started working in his grandfather's family business at the age of 16 and before that worked in the summer holidays stamping brochures.
In 2002 Phil opened a cruise retail store on the same road in Blackpool where it all started back in 1959 and took the helm at the 4th generation family business. With his wife Paula, his daughter Jess Mop and step-son Daniel by his side, the Travel Village Group has grown into a multi channel business promoting cruise holidays through the Holiday village’s 80+ business owners, the Travel Village retail store and the three cruise divisions, The Cruise village (small ship), RiverCruising.co.uk and the Southampton Cruise Centre.

Phil has been recognised by CLIA UK, the Travel Weekly and TTG Media with the converted award of contribution to Cruise and Contribution to the travel industry, something he is extremely proud of. He has recently entered into the world of ecommerce and Southampton Cruise Centre is now a bookable website for sailings ex UK and development work is ongoing to make this a full ecommerce platform to include fly cruise packages.

Phil has a passion for bringing young people into the travel industry and exploring current trends because he believes that it is important to remain relevant in an industry that is evolving faster than anyone could have imagined. He is also a believer in building strong relationships with tour operator partners through transparent marketing, honest communication and ethical business practice. A champion for good independent travel professionals.