NEWS — GOCRUISE CONFERENCE
L CRUISE
Cruise franchise GoCruise held its annual conference last week. HOLLIE- RAE MERRICK reports from Ipswich Report continues, page 13
GoCruise determined to drive sales in 2014
GoCruise is seeking to increase booking figures this year by boosting its social media and marketing activity after a “difficult 2013”.
Geoff Ridgeon, head of cruise
at Fred Olsen Travel, the parent company of franchise agency GoCruise, said bookings hadn’t increased as much as he had hoped in 2013. However, he said the average selling price and margins had held up well due to upselling by franchisees. Ridgeon told
“We struggled with certain areas and that is
something that we plan to reverse in 2014”
delegates: “2013 was a difficult year, but there were many good points – we had great margins, we had great booking value and we upsold a lot. “However, we struggled with
certain areas of mainstream volume and that is something that we are planning to reverse in 2014. “We will incorporate additional marketing plans to drive back the volume that seemed to elude us and some other agencies in 2013. “The
business we did was very good business, but we would like to see those booking volumes grow.” He said a new booking system being introduced to make the process easier for franchisees would help achieve this. A combination of financial support for franchisees for marketing and a focus on online promotion and social media will also help to drive bookings by creating new routes to market, according to Ridgeon.
He said: “We have made a number of improvements and
enhancements to the way GoCruise operates and the support we give. “We will have more of a focus on online promotion and social media to help drive more traffic to franchisees’ websites.” Mainstream cruise sales remained “hugely important” to GoCruise franchisees, but Ridgeon said he saw potential in the river, niche and expedition
sectors where volumes are lower but the earning potential can be greater.
Geoff Ridgeon: ‘Niche cruises offer greater earning potential’
From left: guest speaker
Duncan Jones; Michael English; Celebrity Cruises; and Martin Spence, Steve Williams and Geoff Ridgeon, all GoCruise
‘Sell the experience, not the price’
The industry needs to be prepared for increased demand for combined land and cruise holidays,
according to Celebrity Cruises head of sales Michael English. “The trend we are seeing is that cruise might not be the entire holiday, it might make up a small part of a bigger trip,” he explained.
“The cruise might only be a
third of that holiday and we need to be prepared to provide different things to meet those needs. The only way you can convey that is by knowing what it is all about.” English (pictured) told
delegates at the GoCruise conference that they should
About GoCruise
GoCruise is a cruise specialist franchise agency made up of 60 franchisees across the country. The franchise company, which was established in 2001,
operates as a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Travel and is a member of the British Franchise Association. The head-office support team for the franchisees has increased
from two members of staff in 2005 to 20 today. Some franchisees focus on particular parts of the market such as river, while others sell all forms of cruise.
16 January 2014 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 11
focus on selling the experience rather than the price. “If we start to sell on price
we will lose that business on price,” he said. “In particular, in the premium market we need to be able to push those premium revenues a little bit higher.”
English said GoCruise
franchisees had the benefit of having a specialism to focus on, with some members focusing on niche markets such as river cruise. And he urged all agents to
ensure they exploit the level of investment cruise lines put into online training.
“The cruise lines will support
you to understand the brands,” he said. “I don’t think there is another sector of the travel industry that invests such a big amount of money in training and conferences.”
A
CONFERENCE REPORT
GoCruise positive after ‘difficult’ 2013
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