P RIS


RIVER CRUISE CONFERENCE


 2018


Debra Fox: ‘Contingency plans for low water levels work 99% of the time’


Perl challenges agents to hit the 250,000 mark


The UK boss of AmaWaterways has laid down the gauntlet to the trade to help the river cruise sector hit the 250,000 UK passenger mark in 2019. Clia reported in September


Stuart Perl AmaWaterways


‘Never mind millennials – target the baby boomers’


Agents have been urged not to waste time chasing millennials to book river cruises when there remains plenty of untapped potential in the over-55s market.


Avalon chief executive Giles


Hawke, who is also deputy chairman of Clia UK, said: “I don’t think we are targeting millennials. The type of people we are selling to are such a big market.” He urged lines to keep


developing products to retain their existing demographic and to attract new passengers entering the same age bracket who are increasingly “young at heart”. John Fair agreed, describing millennial passengers as “an aspiration”. “If you are honest and look at


who is on the river ships, it is still an older market,” he said. Referring to the baby boomer


generation – those born between 1945 and 1963 – APT chief commercial officer Debra ox said: “The majority of money they spend is on experiences and travel. “We have this huge wave of people coming in over the next


five to seven years who are right in the sweet spot to get into river cruising. That is a critical market to reach, connect to and really introduce to river cruise.” Fox added: “[Emerging


over-55s] are the guys I really do recommend you start talking to. They are currently in their 50s. They are wealthy and are getting their parents’ inheritance. “They are living longer, chasing


experiences and travel fulfils their need for discovery – they are in pursuit of freedom.” Fox said APT research found


that river cruise appealed to ocean passengers. “We are seeing very high cross- pollination between the two [sectors] in both directions,” she said. “They want the same things: hard-to-reach places off the beaten track – and river delivers on that.”


Clia launches fact finder Cliasauraus


Clia is set to launch a ‘cruise fact finder’ tool for agents. Cliasauraus, developed by travel technology firm Zolv,


features an image of a dinosaur as its logo. It will offer information on specific details, from


accessible cabins and types of sockets to themed cruises, celebrity partnerships and more.


Andy Harmer, Clia UK & Ireland director, said: “The Cliasauraus is a fantastic tool for travel agents as it will help them answer any customer questions quickly and


easily. Agents can find the information they’re looking for with the click of a button. “The tool will be constantly updated as Clia adds more category searches and ship information, ensuring that agents will always have the most up-to-date information.”


Cliasauraus will go live before the new year and will be available to member agents on cruiseexperts.org


that 210,400 Britons took a river cruise in 2017, and Stuart Perl believes that figure can rise sharply. Addressing agents, he said:


“We have the momentum. We are working in a sector that is at the beginning of a massive growth period. “I would like to challenge


you. We have seen 21% growth of river cruise passengers between 2016 and 2017 – the total passenger numbers in 2017 were 210,000. “We are hopeful the total number of passengers for 2018 may have risen to 220,000. “I would like to challenge


you that in 2019 we can put ‘million’ into our passenger declaration numbers and raise the bar and get to a quarter of a million passengers. That is my challenge to you.” Perl, AmaWaterways’ managing director, was named chairman of the Clia river cruise working group earlier this year.


15 November 2018travelweekly.co.uk13


PICTURES: STEVE DUNLOP


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