CONFERENCE Clia River Cruise Conference: About 250 agents attend event to hear
Hawke urges lines to share eco credentials with agents
A
gents should push the sustainability credentials of river cruise operators even if
very few of their customers are yet asking about the issue, delegates at the Clia River Cruise Conference were told.
Only one agent raised their
hand when asked during a session on sustainability in the sector if customers asked about the subject when booking a river cruise. Despite this, Clia deputy chairman
Giles Hawke urged river operators to share information about their efforts to protect the environment with the agent community. “We have so much information
about what we are doing,” he said. “It is incumbent on us as cruise
lines to give you the information. “If customers don’t care today,
they will care in the future.” Hawke encouraged agents to play their part by pushing lines to give
them the information so they could “proactively talk to their customers” about the sector’s eco credentials. Hawke, who is chief executive of
Avalon Waterways, warned if action to protect the environment was not taken now, river cruise businesses would cease to exist. He said being sustainable was
simply “doing the right thing” and should not be a competitive issue. APT chief commercial officer
Debra Fox said the sector should copy the aviation industry’s “black box” approach, where information is shared aſter accidents have been reviewed. She said: “Tey are not
We have so much
information about what we are doing. It is incumbent on us to give you that information
competitive about it with each other. Te more we can learn, the faster we can get there, and the beter we can all be together.” Te river cruise sector had the
advantage of being able to “adapt very quickly”, said Hawke, who cited his own line as an example. “Removing single-use plastics should not be a three-year programme for river cruise lines,” he added. “At Avalon, we made a decision in January this year to remove single-use plastics and we will remove them by the end of this year.” Ben Wirz, managing director
of Uniworld’s operations base in Switzerland, said cruise lines should invest in sustainability now rather than “doing it later when you’re forced to” by regulatory bodies. Wirz said passengers would soon
be asked to sign his company’s Make Travel Mater pledge, which raises awareness about sustainability and encourages certain behaviours.
AmaWaterways plans new-ship launch on Nile
AmaWaterways has confirmed plans to launch on the Nile with a new-build ship in 2021. Te luxury line had previously looked
to introduce a vessel on the Nile in 2009 but shelved plans when a wave of anti-government protests in the Middle East triggered the Arab Spring uprising. Kristin Karst, executive vice-president
and co-owner, said: “We really feel that the country is ready for us.” Asked if she had any concerns about security in the region, she said: “You can
never be 100% safe, but you always want to travel.” Karst added that since the Paris terrorist
atacks of 2015, AmaWaterways had employed a guard on all its ships to provide security, and issued passengers with identity key cards for use when boarding. Karst said: “Our ship, which we plan
to build, will have 66 to 70 passengers on board but the majority of staterooms will be suites.” She added that the Nile was “very popular” with UK customers.
APT kept paying crew after dropping cruises in Myanmar
River cruise line and escorted touring specialist APT continued to pay crew in Myanmar aſter pulling its programme in the country when customer interest dropped. Sailings for both APT and sister brand Travelmarvel
were cancelled in September 2018 aſter Rohingya Muslims were driven from the country. In September 2020, APT and Travelmarvel will
return to the country, offering nearly 20 departures until February 2021. Debra Fox, chief commercial officer, said wages were
still paid to crew even though sailings were on hold. “We, as river cruise companies, need to make sure that
when times are good we are there, and when times are bad we are there too,” she said.
14 14 NOVEMBER 2019
travelweekly.co.uk
Ben Wirz, Uniworld
PICTURES: Steve Dunlop
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