The huge debt Woking accrued through its redevelopment programme has attracted a host of negative headlines. Yet the town centre’s new shops, offices and leisure facilities are drawing businesses to the borough.

Among them is MSC Cruises, one of the world’s fastest growing cruise lines, which established its UK and Ireland headquarters in Export House in Victoria Square about 18 months ago.

A landlocked Surrey town might seem an unlikely base for a global cruise company, but Antonio Paradiso, the company’s UK managing director, said Woking’s transport links and revitalised town centre made it an obvious choice.

“I was looking for a town that had some amazing transport links, especially with London and Southampton,” said Mr Paradiso, who is also MSC’s vice president for international sales.

“You know, in 20 minutes you can be in central London, that facilitates many of our meetings, as most of them are in central London.

“And then if we go to the MSC Cruise Terminal in Southampton, it takes only 30 to 45 minutes,” he added.

About 100 staff work for MSC Cruises UK and Ireland, although not all are based in Woking, with plans to hire more.

With a focus on recruiting locally where possible, Mr Paradiso said the move had widened the company’s recruitment prospects.

“The hiring process has proven to be much easier for us,” he said. “From Surrey, Hampshire and the surrounding areas of London, it has opened a bigger pool for us.

“We hired a lot of local people over the past 14 or 15 months because we wanted to attract local talent, and it’s been a real success.”

The central office location has also proved popular with staff.

“I always want to make sure my colleagues enjoy coming to the office,” he said. “Here, we’re at the heart of the newer section of the mall.

“When they’re on their lunch break, they can go to the gym, go to a nice restaurant or have a coffee.”

MSC’s support for the local community also centres on corporate responsibility. The company recently sponsored the Mayor of Woking’s Spring Ball at the nearby Hilton Hotel, helping raise thousands of pounds for the mayor’s charity, Citizens Advice Woking.

“We always love to give back,” Mr Paradiso said. “Every time we do something nice, we always make sure we’re supporting local charities. We do a lot of activities for these organisations — of course it helps them, but it keeps the morale of our team very high.”

Globally, MSC Cruises has now grown into one of the largest cruise companies in the world over the past two decades.

Founded in Naples in 1988, the Swiss-based company operates 23 ships and employs about 30,000 people worldwide.

The company has recorded double-digit growth in most years, with the exception of the Covid pandemic, which shut down the global travel industry.

“I don’t even want to mention that word,” Mr Paradiso said.

Ships from the MSC fleet sail from Southampton every week of the year, serving destinations across northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Caribbean.

The ongoing conflict in the Arabian Gulf, however, has created fresh challenges for the travel industry, particularly for MSC, which has ships operating in the region.

”The priority is always the safety of our customers,” Mr Paradiso said. “MSC has been chartering flights, so we have done everything we can to get our customers out.”

Despite disruptions, he said the cruise industry had repeatedly shown its ability to recover.

“The cruise industry is extremely resilient,” he said. “It’s another bump in the road, but we’ve proven it again and again that we can bounce back.”

The sea has shaped much of Mr Paradiso’s life. Born in Brighton and raised in Naples, he has spent most of his life by it. Away from the cruise industry, his other passion is football. On the wall of his Woking office hang signed shirts from Napoli and Chelsea — both blue, of course — two clubs partnered with MSC Cruises.

Having risen from a contact centre worker to one of MSC’s senior leaders, he is now helping the company compete with established names in the UK cruise market such as P&O and Cunard.

He believes the continued growth of cruising comes down to the freedom it gives travellers to shape their own holiday.

“Despite some small misconceptions out there, I think there is truly a cruise for everyone,” he said. “A cruise is what you make of it.”