Cruise lines shift focus to international restrictions


Travel Weekly reporters


Cruise specialists welcomed further easing of restrictions from July 19 but said the need to update Foreign Office advice against international cruising remains the “focus” for the sector. The Department for Transport


last week confirmed it would allow all ships sailing in UK waters to operate at 50% of capacity, removing a cap of 1,000 passengers that had been in place since May 17. Transport secretary Grant Shapps


also confirmed the easing of quarantine rules for fully-vaccinated travellers returning from amber destinations would apply to cruise passengers. Andy Harmer, director of Clia


UK & Ireland, described the capacity change as “good news”. But he added: “FCDO travel


advice on cruise still has to be updated and that is our focus.” Simone Clark, senior vice-


president of global supply at Iglu, said the cruise specialist had finally begun to promote Mediterranean cruises for later this summer in anticipation of guidance being updated. Speaking the day after the amber


Fred Olsen Travel ‘open’ to agency sales and tie-ups


Fred Olsen Travel said “nothing is off the table” in regards to acquisitions and collaborations after purchasing Worldspan Travel, an agency near Bournemouth. The acquisition took the Fred


8 15 JULY 2021


announcement, she said: “We’ve not been promoting cruise in the Med until last night. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line have started selling. It’s all starting up again.” But she added: “The big one is


cruises out of Miami. As soon as the market opens up we will start selling.” A number of agencies said the


additional capacity on domestic cruises presented “a real opportunity” for the trade and reported a swing in sales volumes towards the sector. Paul Hardwick, Fred Olsen Travel head of commercial, said the agency’s


sales ratio between land and sea had shifted from a traditional 50:50 split to 70:30 in favour of cruise because of availability in the market. Hamish Kaumaya, managing


director of Travel-PA, said UK cruise represented half of the homeworking company’s current sales and added: “Pretty much everything for the lates market is cruise bookings.” Phil Nuttall, owner of the Travel


Village Group, said domestic cruises were attracting new-to-cruise clients and added: “Now is the best time to


be a cruise agent.” i Special Report, page 15


P&O’s Britannia is currently operating domestic UK cruises


Dragoman decides to suspend operations


Overland touring specialist operator Dragoman is to mothball operations until long-haul travel is feasible again in the wake of the pandemic. The decision, taken in the Aito member’s 40th year of operations, will see the company’s 27 trucks parked up around the world and refunds made on all future bookings.


Osborne re-elected as chair of AWTE


Travelport’s Claire Osborne (pictured) has been re-elected as chair of the Association of Women Travel Executives for a third term. Osborne will hold the post for the next 12 months, supported by vice-chair Lindsay Garvey-Jones, of Holiday Extras. The AWTE said it intended to hold its first face-to-face networking event once new Covid restrictions had been confirmed.


Riviera cancels all six of


Seaventure’s UK cruises Riviera Travel has scrapped all six summer sailings on Seaventure in the UK amid “ongoing uncertainty and current travel restrictions in Scotland”. Customer demand had encouraged the operator to add two Scottish itinerary departures in August. However, the ongoing ban on cruise ships docking in Scotland forced it to cancel all itineraries on the 158-passenger vessel.


Olsen shop network to 16 and came about after Worldspan’s owners made an approach ahead of their retirement. It also follows a “collaboration” with Milford Travel in Hampshire last year, which saw Fred Olsen buy the business and transfer its staff and database to one of its own shops nearby. Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast, Fred Olsen head of commercial Paul Hardwick confirmed the Worldspan deal


Paul Hardwick


included the retention of all staff, including the shop manager who has worked there for 30 years and a senior sales manager who has 18 years’ service. He added he would be interested


to hear from anyone with a good business who was looking to retire or form an exit strategy, in addition to those seeking partnerships to help them to continue to trade. “I would say nothing’s off the table at the moment,” he said.


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURE: P&O Cruises/James D Morgan


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