Clia UK and Ireland Managing Director Andy Harmer called Hill “a titan of the river cruise community”, while veteran agency boss Steve Williams, who worked with Hill at GoCruise & Travel, said he would be “missed immensely”.
Reflecting on his friendship with Hill which spanned two decades, Williams said: “It is so hard to come to terms with James' passing. It's such a shock.
“I was keen to work with him again so luckily, I had met with up him on a couple of occasions in St Pancras to catch up, swap memories and discuss future collaboration opportunities – he still had so much energy.”
Williams added: “He was so passionate about river cruise and he took it so seriously. He even flew out to Amsterdam this year and would always be one of the last up in the bar.
“He never took himself too seriously though and one of my funniest memories of James was when he went on stage to collect an award at the Clia RiverView Conference and his trousers kept falling down and he was told in no uncertain terms to pull them up!”
Harmer said Hill was “a true advocate and ambassador for the sector with an unmatched passion for sharing his knowledge with colleagues across the Clia agent community”.
"He will be greatly missed by the many people in travel who grew to know him over his long career, and we send our thoughts to his family at this difficult time,” he continued.
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