NEWS New Markets in Cruise Conference: Agents attend Abta event. Harry Kemble reports


Agents urged to champion ‘green’ cruise industry


C


ruise agents have been urged to boost their knowledge of sustainability in the


sector by lines that say they are turning to cleaner fuels. Twenty-six of the 88 cruise


ships coming into service in the next six years will use the cleanest fossil fuel available, liquefied natural gas (LNG), Clia chairman Tony Roberts said. Speaking at Abta’s New Markets


in Cruise Conference, Roberts said customers who have concerns about how green the cruise industry is must be told the facts by agents. He said: “People are going to


be asking about this more. I am not If we do not engage


with travel agents about what we do, the young ones will catch us with our pants down


suggesting the whole industry is squeaky clean, but there are huge steps [being taken] at the heart of what we do as an industry.” According to Roberts, $22 billion


is being invested by Clia member cruise lines in new green energy technologies. P&O Cruises’ Iona will be the first UK ship to be powered by LNG when it enters service next year.


“Te industry is investing a


huge amount to ensure that we are operating in a sustainable way,” added Roberts, Princess Cruises’ UK and Europe vice-president. Geir Kronbæck, Royal Caribbean


International’s Nordics general manager, went one step further and warned the industry that it could “be caught with its pants down” by younger cruisers if it did not engage with agents over sustainability. Te International Maritime


Organisation’s new emission standards come into effect from January 1 to all but eliminate sulphur emissions. Royal Caribbean’s first


Icon-class ship in 2022 will be powered by LNG combined with hydrogen fuel cells. Kronbæck said: “We have


a communication problem, an education problem and we have been hiding under our desks not talking about what we do. “If we do not engage with agents


about what we do, the young ones will catch us with our pants down.” Alistair Pritchard, Deloite UK


lead partner for travel, said: “[Climate change] has been on businesses’ agendas for many years. Some take it more seriously than others, but now it is on the consumer agenda.”


Tony Roberts, Clia chairman


CONFERENCE


Miles Morgan: Homeworking is built on repeat business model and so is cruise


A leading agent expects a rise in the number of homeworkers following the collapse of Tomas Cook, adding that selling cruise offered benefits to agents working remotely. About 4,000 travel agents lost


their jobs when Tomas Cook went into liquidation on September 23, and travel firms have rallied to keep them in the industry with job offers.


Miles Morgan, managing director


of Miles Morgan Travel, said: “Te homeworking business model is built on repeat business and cruise is also.” Citing cruise line Viking as an


example, he said cruise offered “high


Miles Morgan


commission, great satisfaction and high repeat business”. However, Morgan issued a word


of caution to aspiring homeworkers. “Being a homeworker is not geting up, playing a round of golf and doing a booking. It is much harder than that.” He has already hired one former


Cook staff member as a homeworker and is talking to others. “Following the desperately sad news [about Tomas Cook], I can only see homeworking increasing,” he said. Iain Powell, Saga’s head of trade sales, said the homeworking sector was already “the biggest area of growth” in the travel retail sector.


14


10 OCTOBER 2019


travelweekly.co.uk


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