Bounas joined Royal Caribbean International (RCI) in January 2016 and was promoted to director of marketing in November the same year.

He oversaw the repositioning of the Royal brand in the UK under its “This is How to Holiday” strapline.

Ben Bouldin, associate vice-president and managing director Royal Caribbean UK and Ireland, paid tribute to Bounas’s contribution.

“Mario joined us over three years ago and has been an instrumental part of the Royal Caribbean senior leadership team having overseen the incredibly successful transition to our brand positioning ‘This is How to Holiday’ and managed the marketing of four hugely successful ship launches,” said Bouldin.

“I would like to thank Mario for his hard work and commitment to the business and wish him well for his next venture.”

Bouldin confirmed Bounas would leave the company at the end of July, adding marketing consultant Fiona Wylie would stand in on an interim basis “to afford Royal the time to look carefully for its next permanent hire”.

During his tenure, Bounas was responsible for developing and implementing Royal’s B2B and B2C marketing strategy in the UK and Ireland, heading up a team of 14.

This included working on the launch of Symphony of the Seas, Royal’s largest ship to date.