NEWS CONFERENCE REPORT
The top travel companies and agents were honoured at the inaugural Clia River Cruise Excellence Awards in Amsterdam last weekend
The winners pose with Lucy Huxley, Steve Spivak and Andy Harmer
Clia lauds top performers at first river cruise awards
Nominees attended a ceremony hosted by headline sponsor Tauck onboard new vessel Grace, followed by an after-party courtesy of Emerald Waterways.
Awards were handed out by
director of Clia UK & Ireland Andy Harmer and Travel Weekly editor- in-chief Lucy Huxley. The award for River Cruise Ambassador of the Year went to Margaret McCorriston from Planet Cruise. She said: “We are seeing a growth in people who are interested and I sell to a lot of ocean cruisers and also people
“As river cruises increase the amount of active excursions, we will see younger people on them”
who have never cruised before. “As we see river cruises
increasing the amount of active excursions they offer, I think this is when we will see younger people wanting to holiday on them too.” Blue Water Holidays agent
Juliet Archer took home the award
for 2016 Clia River Cruise Agent of the Year, with Sarah Bolton from Travel Counsellors highly commended. Product and commercial
director at
Cruise.co.uk Tony Andrews took home the gong for Best Marketing Promotion of River Cruise (homeworkers). The award for Best River Cruise
Newcomer went to ROL Cruise (previously known as Readers Offers).
Commercial director Andrew
Say said: “We are delighted to have won this as river cruise is a very important part of our company. “River cruise is a growing area of the industry and we plan to increase our focus on it over the next few years.” Awards for Best Marketing
STEVE SPIVAK: ‘We realised that many of our travel advisor partners have never experienced a river cruise’
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travelweekly.co.uk 24 November 2016
Promotion of River Cruise (retail) went to Baldwins Travel and Cruise Village (online). Best Overall Performance –
North went to River Voyages, part of Cruise 118, while Iglu Cruise
won the award for the south. › For more pictures, go to
travelweekly.co.uk
Tauck to offer award nominees free river cruises
Agents nominated for a River Cruise Excellence Award will get the chance to experience a river cruise of their choice for free courtesy of Tauck. They can choose from any of the operator’s seven-night river cruises to attend with a guest in the next year. Speaking onboard Grace,
Tauck’s vice-president of global sales, Steve Spivak, said: “We realised that many of our travel advisor partners have never experienced a river cruise. “For the benefit of our
industry to continue this great momentum, we wanted to reward them with the experience of a lifetime on a Tauck river cruise. “They will have the same
experience as all our guests have. We will offer a variety of options to choose from.” Spivak said his favourite
itinerary was the Taste of France, which travels from Arles to Paris. The company provided ship
stays for the event and also hosted a dinner for agents at the National Maritime Museum.
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