36 TRAVEL TRADE NEWS
February 2019 Travel News
Exciting times ahead
Silversea Cruises’ Regional Sales Manager for Scotland and Ireland AMANDA
MIDDLER gives travel agents across the Province a glimpse of what Silversea has planned for 2019...
Hi everyone and happy January!
Phew, what a month we are having – the sales are coming in very thick and fast and I thank you all for your support – this January has
been a record for Silversea and has been very positive.
We have the Wave campaign running on all cruises up to March 2020 until 28th February where your clients can save up to £400 per booking; we also have our Air Offers; and some voyages have Last Minute Savings where your clients can get a one-category
suite upgrade and $1,000 onboard credit per suite. There has never been a better time to upsell your clients and get them on board a Silversea cruise.
At Silversea we have a lot of exciting things happening with the launch of Silver Moon in August 2020 – she is on sale now so worth having a look– then we have four more ships coming in the following years including two evolution-class ships that will push the boundaries of ultra-luxury cruising. What’s selling well at the moment? The Caribbean – we still have some great offers
for February and March to the Caribbean with fl ights, transfers and onboard credit selling at just over £3,000 per person.
Our newest fl agship, Silver Muse, is sailing
in Alaska, where your clients might see brown bears fi shing for salmon or a humpback breaching in a spectacular display. In Northern Europe, the recently lengthened and refurbished Silver Spirit sails up to St Petersburg for an overnight
stay – where we dock outside the Hermitage Museum!
Keep attending the Webinar on the fi rst
Wednesday of the month with Luke and also read the Weekly Word we send out every Thursday – if for any reason you don’t get the Weekly Word – please email me and I will make sure you start receiving it.
If you need anything please email or call
me –
amandam@silversea.com or 07961 997 561
Have a great Wave Everyone!! Amanda
Jet2.com Jet2holidays enjoyed a triumphant night at the recent Travel Weekly Globe Awards, picking up four accolades and voted for by travel agents and the travel industry. Jet2holidays, the UK’s second largest tour operator, won the award for Best Short Haul Operator for the third year running at the prestigious awards, held at Grosvenor House in London. Jet2holi- days was voted as Best Trade Sales Team while
Jet2.com won the award for Best Short haul airline for the seventh time in eight years. Rounding off an extremely successful evening, Jet2. com and Jet2holidays’ CEO Steve Heapy was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Achieve- ment Award. Pictured with one of the Globe awards are Alan Cross, Simon Marshall, Lauren Atchison, Lloyd Cross and Craig Davidson (Read more, Page 9)
Amanda Middler, Silversea Cruises’ Regional Sales
Manager for Scotland and Ireland
ABTA meetings around UK
ABTA has launched its latest programme of Regional Business Meetings, which will take place between March and May this year
The meetings are free for Members to attend and provide an opportunity to hear directly from ABTA’s experts on the latest developments in the industry. The agenda for the upcoming meetings includes Brexit, where ABTA will share its insight into the Brexit process and provide an update on lobbying activities and what this means for Members’ businesses. The Package Travel Regulations and ATOL Standard Terms will also be discussed, with multi- contract packages, business travel sales and ancillary sales a particular focus.
The sessions will also cover Making Tax Digital, a Government initiative, following new HMRC rules for companies with a taxable turnover above £85K to keep certain records in a digital form.
ABTA will provide an update on its work to support holiday bookings – including the latest consumer campaigns and Travel Trends report – as well as updating on the services the Association provides. The Regional Business Meetings are held twice a year (Spring and Autumn) in 11 locations across the country. The Northern Ireland ABTA Regional Business Meeting will take place on May 1, 2019. ABTA Members must book to reserve their free place, by visiting
abta.com/regionalbusinessmeetings.
Oasis top NI agent at ‘Appreciation’ awards
Award winners at the Celebrity Cruises Appreciation Awards recently F
OR the fi fth year running, Celebrity Cruises rewarded the hard work of Ireland’s travel agents at its annual Travel Agent Appreciation Awards. Recognising travel agents and Trade partners for their support throughout 2018, this year’s winners include Oasis Travel, Worldchoice Ireland and Trailfi nders Ireland.
The awards ceremony was held in mid-January at East Wintergarden in London’s Canary Wharf. Over 40 Trade partners attended and a total of 13 awards were presented to partners to celebrate their achievements and commitment to Celebrity Cruises over the last year. The awards were hosted by Jo Rzymowska, Vice President and managing director for the UK, Ireland and Asia, and Gavin Smith, senior vice president, International.
The full list of winners at Celebrity Cruises’ Travel Agent Appreciation Awards includes:
• Rising Star – Stewart Travel • Best Performer, Celebrity Edge – Thomas Cook • Best Performer, Galapagos – Trailfi nders • Best Performer in Suite Class – ROL Cruise • Top Agency, Northern Ireland – Oasis Travel • Top Agency , Republic of Ireland – Trailfi nders Ireland • Top Consortia – Ireland – Worldchoice Ireland • Top Performing High Street Agency – Highly Commended – Hays Travel • Top Performing High Street Agency – Trailfi nders • Top Consortia, UK – The Travel Network Group (TNG)
• Top Homeworking Agency – Travel Counsellors • Top Cruise Specialist – Iglu Cruise • Top Cruise Specialist for Growth – Cruise 118 • Top Luxury Agency – Kuoni
2018 saw Celebrity Eclipse sailing from Dublin as Celebrity Cruises continues its commitment to Dublin Port and the Irish cruise market as the only major cruise line to be based out of the capital. It also marked Celebrity Silhouette’s fi rst season of homeporting in Southampton, and culminated in the launch of the revolutionary Celebrity Edge.
This year 2019 is already set to be another landmark year. Celebrity Refl ection will call Dublin home this spring and the Celebrity Revolution begins apace on board Celebrity Millennium – the start of a $500 million dollar investment in the entire fl eet to bring the fi nest features and designs found on Celebrity Edge to every Celebrity Cruises ship.
To support these milestone events, Celebrity Cruises is hosting its largest programme of ship visits for agents giving as many as possible the opportunity to experience Celebrity Cruises for themselves, including the Edge- class of ships ahead of the launch of Celebrity Apex in the UK next year.
Celebrity Cruises is also rewarding agents for their hard work with the #CelebrityLovesAgents campaign featuring the stars of Celebs Go Dating. 100 agents will win €600 of Celebrity Rewards each and a place at the hottest party the travel industry has seen where they will rub shoulders with the likes of such personalities as Calum Best and Bobby Cole Norris.
First Dedicated MICE Networking event scheduled for Dublin
TTR - Travel Trade Representation, have announced that their inaugural ‘MICE MeetUp Dublin’, will take place on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The Dublin MICE MeetUp is specifi cally designed for the outbound MICE industry from Ireland.
International MICE tourist boards (and their representatives), conference organisers, inbound event organisers and event venues are invited to participate in this new event, which will take place in The Alex Hotel, Dublin 2.
All of Ireland’s MICE buyers will be in attendance, including TMCs/corporates, in-house buyers/ organisers and MICE companies.
The format of the evening event will be a drinks reception followed by speed networking, with suppliers seated at tables and buyers moving from table to table. This will be followed by a sit-down dinner and a keynote speaker.
TravelMedia.ie are covering the travel and overnight costs for any MICE trade/buyers travelling from outside Dublin, e.g. Belfast, Cork etc. Trade in NI can request assistance by contacting Michael Collins at
TravelMedia.ie.
Note that places at this event are limited. If you are interested in exhibiting, please email michael@
travelmedia.ie ASAP. For updates keep an eye on
traveltraderepresentation.com.
Cruise sales posts Suzanne Rowe
Rebecca Kelly
EXPANDING cruise line MSC Cruises has appointed a new Head of Sales for Ireland. Suzanne Rowe will oversee the regional sales managers in Ireland after Rebecca Kelly joined Princess Cruises to become their Senior Sales Manager in the country. Suzanne will report into Steve Williams, MSC’s Director of Sales UK & Ireland, and lead the team of RSMs, including Alana Byrne and Erica Oglesby. She takes over the role following 25 years at Irish consultancy fi rm Konnections. She was also previously employed by Club Med in Paris.
Antonio Paradiso, MSC Cruises’ Managing Director for UK & Ireland, said: “As a market leader in Ireland we want to lead the way in further expanding distribution by creating engaging content and campaigns that inspire consumers to choose a cruise holiday.
“Suzanne has the expertise across sales, marketing and event management to do this and I look forward to continued success in the Irish market.”
Rebecca Kelly, who spent 10 years with MSC Cruises, will start with Princess Cruises on March 18. Commenting on Rebecca Kelly’s appointment, Rachel Poultney, Princess’s Sales Director UK & Europe, said: “We are so excited to have Rebecca join the team – we’ve had a storming year in Ireland with huge potential for further growth. Now that we have Rebecca onboard we’re confi dent the success of Princess Cruises in Ireland will continue into 2019 and beyond.”
New NI Balkan rep
BALKAN Holidays has announced two new key appointments to their sales and marketing team. Louise Newton joins from Hotel Plan UK as Head of Marketing & PR and Lynsey Jones is the new Regional Sales Manager for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cumbria and North East England.
Well known in the travel and tourism industry, Louise was Group Head of Marketing in her previous role and prior to that she was Marketing Manager for Inghams and Head of Sales and Marketing for Somak Holidays.
Lynsey joins Balkan with 14 years travel
Lynsey Jones
industry experience most recently working for TUI and before that she was based predominantly in the French Alps as a Resort Manager for Neilson Active Holidays and Ski World.
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