NEWS CONFERENCE REPORT
Advantage Travel Partnership hosted agent members and cruise lines at its annual Cruise Champions Conference in Southampton. Hollie-Rae Merrick reports
‘A year of sales peaks and troughs’
Claire Brighton (right) with Advantage delegates
Advantage urges members to boost cruise expertise
Advantage Travel Partnership members have been encouraged to increase the number of cruise experts in their branches to capitalise on the earning potential of the cruise sector.
More than 80 members
attended this year’s Advantage Cruise Champions conference in Southampton. The two-day event included a visit to Anthem of the Seas, conference sessions and networking with cruise line representatives. Before the conference, Advantage
asked members to consider sending members of staff who either hadn’t been on a ship or wanted to
boost their cruise knowledge. Senior commercial manager
Claire Brighton said: “We have a small number of experts in the cruise field. It’s important for them to grow that knowledge in a branch. “We’re encouraging our members to increase the number of cruise experts in branch. A good example would be Baldwins Travel, which has sent six non-cruise experts to conference, so they can spread that knowledge further.” Brighton encouraged delegates
to make the most of the tools on the consortium’s intranet. “We’ve been building the cruise section of the site for a few months
Clia: Differentiating lines ‘is getting easier’
Clia UK & Ireland director Andy Harmer described 2015 as the “most exciting year for cruise”, as he encouraged delegates to convert more clients into cruisers. He said this year had been a triumph thanks to ship launches including Britannia, Anthem of the Seas, Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ Magellan and the
upcoming launch of Norwegian Escape. “It’s been a great year not
only for these reasons, but also because cruise lines have got better at differentiating themselves from one another. It’s now easier than ever for agents to understand the selling points of each line.”
and we recently introduced a brochure rack and a ‘meet the fleet’ section. These tools are there to help members and we want agents to make the most of them.” Julia Lo Bue-Said, managing
director of Advantage, added: “We are only scratching the surface in the UK in terms of the opportunities for selling cruise. “Every market is tough and has its challenges and cruise is no different. Agents have to really understand cruise and the role they can play to add value for customers.” Regal Travel, which recently
won cruise support from Clia UK & Ireland in its Take The Cruise Challenge initiative, sent staff to learn more about the sector. Rachel Taylor, of the Welsh agency, said: “I find cruise quite scary because there’s so much to learn. Getting on Anthem was great because it was my first ship visit. I feel I can sell it better now.” Tracey Felstead, of The Travel Concept, a new Advantage Managed Services member, said: “Our customers are asking about cruise and we’re learning about this sector, knowing that it could be a big growth area for us.”
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travelweekly.co.uk 15 October 2015
Advantage members have been paid more than £200,000 for cruise bookings in 2015, despite a “challenging year for the sector”. The money, which is in addition to commission payments, encompasses incentives, agreed overrides and tactical campaigns run throughout this year. Claire Brighton (pictured),
Advantage Travel Partnership’s senior commercial manager, said the consortium had enjoyed strong growth in bookings for several of its cruise line partners, but admitted the past year had been a struggle. “We’ve had more than 40%
more tactical opportunities for members in the past 12 months
than the year before, which is great,” she said. “It’s a challenging market at the moment and it’s very up and down. Across the year, it has been very sporadic. “We have seen big peaks and troughs and it’s fluctuating a bit more than usual. However, September was a very strong month. “Usually, the trend is that
mainstream might have struggled and luxury, as a sector, has grown, or vice versa, but this year it has been more down to individual lines. “One mainstream line may
have had a great year and another may struggle. That’s quite unusual.”
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