36 TRAVEL TRADE NEWS


With two new ships on the horizon and a huge fleet-wide ship refurbishment programme currently in full swing, Silversea are a pioneering cruise line who are always moving forward. To cement their commitment to the Travel Trade in Northern Ireland Silversea have been announced as one of the new category sponsors of this year’s Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards. K


talks to Regional Sales Manager for Scotland and Ireland Amanda Middler, who credited Silvesea’s success in Northern Ireland to the dedicated cruise travel agents and the great relationship they share with the cruise line...


ILVERSEA, a world-leading provider of luxury travel experiences, will celebrate 10 years of luxury expedition cruising in June 2018. Since becoming the world’s first luxury cruise line to launch a range of expedition voyages in 2008, Silversea has continuously redefined notions of travel with its pioneering itineraries, the unmatched quality of its expedition team and its fleet of deluxe, intimate ships. In the past decade, many noteworthy milestones have been reached, establishing the cruise line as a world-leading travel authority and the leader in the field of expedition.


S


Said Amanda Middler, Silversea's Regional Sales Manager for Scotland and Ireland: “Northern Ireland is a great market for us and a massively growing one at that and our sponsorship of the Awards this year comes at a key time for us - we are experiencing great success, and we want to thank the Travel Trade and show them how much we support and appreciate all the hard work they do.”


“We have two new ships which are currently in the process of being built, Silver Moon and Silver Dawn, and we are also carrying out a big refurbishment across all our ships.


“Our expeditions are a growing market and they are especially popular with the Northern Ireland market. We have four expedition ships which range in capacity from 98 guests to 144 guests. The ships explore places like the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica and the Arctic and are a brilliant option for guests who want a little bit more of an adventure!”


And adventure is certainly what guests onboard any of Silversea’s ships will get. This pioneering cruise company isn’t afraid to push the boundaries and explore the furthest regions of the world. Guests can indulge their inner Indiana Jones or Lara Croft and travel deeper, sharing in the knowledge and expertise of Silversea’s onboard expedition teams. A decade ago, Silversea set out to unlock the world’s most authentic travelling experiences for those


with a sense of curiosity. The first of these spectacular expedition destinations was Svalbard, an isolated Norwegian archipelago that is rich in natural wonders. Intimate in its proportions and with true go- anywhere capabilities, Silversea’s Silver Explorer left London for the remote northern waters on June 3, 2008, passing under Tower Bridge to commence a dawning age of expedition in the cruise line’s identity. Later in the same year, Silversea enabled guests to explore Antarctica in unprecedented comfort. Silversea’s breakthrough range of expedition cruises was instantly popular with those in search of an authentic new adventure.


In 2012, after an extended scouting period, the cruise line became the first ever to launch itineraries to the Russian Arctic and along the West Coast of Africa. Utilising the expertise of its team and on-the- ground knowledge, Silversea was able to elevate the concept of six-star expedition.


The following year, Silversea acquired Silver Galapagos and became the first ever company to bring an ultra-luxury product to the Galapagos Islands. It then recruited and began familiarising local tour guides with the concept of luxury travel in order to combine regional knowledge with ultimate onboard service. This principle was representative of the cruise line’s commitment to exceptional standards of comfort and explorative authenticity, which continues to this day. In 2014, Silversea welcomed guests on expeditions to the Galapagos Islands, which has proved to be enduringly popular.


In the same year, Silversea acquired Silver Discoverer, which enabled the company to expand its expedition offering into new territories, such as the Northwest Passage and the Russian Far East. Both expeditions took a great deal of planning and sold out instantly due to the innovative nature of the challenging itineraries. Silver Explorer was one of the only ships to successfully navigate through a particularly treacherous Northwest Passage in 2014,


Still spreading his travel wings


THERE’S lot more to Alan Sparling than Scandinavia and SAS Scandinavian Airlines! And members of the Travel Trade throughout Ireland are going to be hearing and seeing a lot more of him in future in his current role as owner and MD of ASM Ireland. Alan first joined SAS in 1989, was Ireland Country Manager for the airline for nine years, but now he does a lot more than just representing SAS in the company he set up after leaving SAS after 24 years. His client list is expanding and there are going to be more additions to be announced in the near future, he says. Prior to joining SAS, Alan cut his teeth in retail travel, and then for five years worked with a major corporate travel agent, so he is now almost a veteran in the travel business.


Alan left SAS - Scandinavian Airlines in 2013 to form ASM Ireland and since then SAS revenues have grown year on year and the routes from Dublin have enjoyed a solid performance.


This year, SAS celebrates 52 consecutive years flying into Ireland and this summer, will offer up to 29 flights a week from Dublin to Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. He admits there is tough competition on the routes and Alan highly values support from the Travel Trade.


"SAS put a big focus on customer experience and continually invest in ensuring the product fits the customers needs" says Alan. "Recent innovations such as SAS PLUS and SAS GO, as well as a refurbished short-haul fleet with USB points and WiFi onboard, all help to give a better customer experience." SAS offers a comprehensive timetable from Dublin to Denmark, Norway and Sweden and offers excellent connections through their hubs in Copenhagen and Stockholm to Finland and the Baltic States. Another prestigious world carrier Alan represents is ANA, All Nippon Airways, Japan's largest and only five


with many others failing to battle the icy conditions. At the end of 2015, Silversea launched the Shackleton expedition collection, which was built around the sailing routes taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team.


Silversea also recently announced the opening of general sales for its pioneering 140-day 62-port, 32- country World Cruise in 2020 onboard Silver Whisper, which will be the first ship to visit all seven continents - including the remote, picturesque landscape of Antarctica - on a world cruise. And it’s cruises like these that have really gained traction within the travel market in Northern Ireland, thanks largely to the dedication the travel agents across the Province in promoting adventure cruises to a growing market.


Amanda said: “The Travel Trade in Northern Ireland is massively important to Silversea. Over half of our overall bookings come from the Travel Trade and fostering a good relationship with them is fundamental to our success. We want to help agents develop a good knowledge base of the Silversea product, whether that be through training or ship visits. We really want to do everything we can to help agents understand the Silversea product, that is the key to the success of the whole business. “Our new Managing Director, Peter Shanks will be hosting a dinner with key members Travel Trade in June, and we have organised ship visits to take place in June and September. Ship visits work really well because people get the chance to live on a Silversea ship for a few hours and experience the luxury, the food and gain a real passion to be able to talk to clients about the Silversea product. That is very important to us. We want agents to be able to inspire their clients with first hand experiences of being onboard and we fell that this works really well


KIRSTY JOHNSTON


June 2018 Travel News Pioneering cruise line new sponsor of Awards


Amanda Middler of new category sponsor Silversea is pictured with Ciaran Mulligan of Awards headline sponsor Blue Insurance and Jonathan Adair and Brian Ogle of Awards organisers Northern Ireland Travel News


for us, the agents and the client,” she added. Another added draw for this pioneering cruise line is its work with one of the UK’s leading marine conservation charities ORCA. Silversea is working with ORCA to enable guests to discover and engage with incredible marine life on their Silversea adventures and contribute to ORCA’s ongoing marine conservation work by helping to collect critical sightings data of whales, dolphins and porpoises.


Amanda contined: “Our expeditions and our conservation work are what make Silversea stand out from the rest. We are not just the average cruise company offering cruise holidays - we offer amazing adventures, something special that will be remembered forever!”


“On a personal note, I think that the Northern Ireland Travel Awards offer something similar - it is a night that stands out from the rest and will be remembered forever! That’s why we just had to be a part of it. It truly is the best event that we have here and are so well attended and organised. I just love the whole thing and I wish other Trade events could be as good! The entertainment is superb, the food is superb, the venue is superb. It’s truly a special night to look forward to. It’s the whole package. “We are thrilled to be a new sponsor at this year’s Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards. The Awards are very highly regarded throughout the Travel Trade and are widely recognised as celebrating the cream of the industry.


“They are the highlight of the social calendar and are so well attended - it’s brilliant for Silversea brand awareness within the Travel Trade to have a presence at it and we are very excited to attend and to share with everyone the essence of Silversea,” she added.


star airline. ‘ Trustworthy, Heartwarming, Energetic’ is the motto and guiding principle of ANA and says Alan, it delivers on all three every day.


"In fact", says Alan, "All Nippon Airways has been awarded the maximum 5-Star rating by the UK-based company SKYTRAX, for the sixth consecutive year since 2013 which is unprecedented in the industry. "In addition, ANA recently won the Air Transport World ‘Airline of the Year 2018’ and with the upcoming rugby world cup in Japan in 2019 and Olympics in 2020, there is no better way to fly to Japan than with ANA." Today, ANA offers flights from Dublin to Japan via Germany with their JV partner Lufthansa. Alan's Scandinavian/northern European connection has also been strengthened with a tie-up with OBEO Travel, DMC (Destination Management Company) owned by an Icelandic lady called Rannveig Snorradottir who has worked with the Irish Travel Trade for many years. It was in his work with SAS that Alan came across the energetic Icelander. ASM Ireland saw a gap in the market where the Trade could be better served on ground arrangements for Destination ICELAND. With new scheduled flights from Dublin, it made perfect sense to introduce a quality DMC to handle FIT, Groups & Incentives, he says. Recently Icelandair quit Belfast City Airport and started a daily jet service from Dublin to Reyjkvik. Added to an existing daily service from Wow Airlines means that there are up to 2,000 weekly seats to Iceland.


"We know Rannveig Snorradottir, the MD of OBEO Travel DMC for many years and she really is one in a million when it comes to customer service. After only one year in the Irish market, OBEO Travel DMC is now recognised as a quality company which delivers, supports and ensures the agents’ clients are 100 per cent looked after. Rannveig is Icelandic and


Not quite the whole travel world in his hands, but Alan Sparling has ambitions to grow his ASM (Airline Sales Marketing) business into wider areas


personally knows every supplier she uses. "Agents will not be disappointed and clients will be very happy in the hands of OBEO Travel DMC. They handle every type of arrangement client need, from hotels, apartments, excursions, restaurants, self drive and school groups."


As well as Iceland, Rannveig has a superb knowledge of Namibia and lived there for many years - in fact she knows the country like the back of her hand. "OBEO can handle any type of enquiry for Namibia and with regular flights now available from Ireland to Windhoek, we are convinced Namibia will grow and grow as a destination in the coming years". Your Car Hire is the latest addition to ASM’s portfolio. "One of the cornerstones of our business strategy is to ensure that we will only represent quality service minded companies that have a service minded commitment towards the Trade. Your Car Hire are such a company.


"Offering more quality suppliers than any other broker, we promise service excellence and no jargon to


ensure agents’ clients know exactly what they pay for. With our SDEW (Super Damage Excess Waiver) competitive rate to cover the excess on car hire, we promise you will not get a better post booking service when needed.


Alan recognises the importance of good relationships with the Northern Ireland Travel Trade and with this in mind will be promoting ASM and its clients at the Northern Ireland Big Travel Trade Event in June at The Hilton, Templepatrick. Incidentally ASM stands for Airline, Sales, Marketing and not Alan Sparling Marketing, he insists! "Account set-up is easy so I am asking agents to drop by the stand to sign up and get entered into a draw to take place on the day for a wonderful hamper stuffed full of summer treats."


ASM are also a founding member of TPG – Travel Partners Group, a coming together of eight Ireland based suppliers to host roadshows around the country. This year, TPG – Travel Partners Group - will host a roadshow in Belfast, on October 8.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40