NEWS ROUND-UP
Affordable Cruises seeks sales staff as new site launches
Online cruise agency Worldwide Cruises is launching a second cruise website and hiring agents to join its sales team. Te Wembley-based agency is
looking for five more staff to join its new Affordable Cruises call centre team in Southampton as it looks to double the 2,000 bookings it made last year. Affordable Cruises is currently
in a soſt-launch period and is being headed by Worldwide Cruises sales manager Jordan Brewer. He said: “Sales are strong and [director Romi Singh] wanted two platforms for our cruise packages. He also wanted to open up an office outside London, and Southampton was naturally his first choice.” Both websites are essentially the
same, but have different branding and will appear in different search results. Brewer added: “Launching a website is a big challenge, but the growth that we have seen is key to why we have set up Affordable Cruises.” Five sales consultants, from
Barrhead Travel,
Iglu.com and Cruise118, have already joined.
Agent saves clients from ‘losing’ £40k safari trip
Juliet Dennis
A homeworker has gone the extra mile for her clients aſter saving them from booking a trip to South Africa that would have seen them denied entry under child travel laws. Personal travel advisor Alison
Ashford, of Holidaysplease, made a four-hour round-trip from her home in Tatcham, Berkshire, to the South African High Commission in London to check if her clients had the required paperwork to travel. She had been asked to book
two grandparents, two of their daughters and two of their children on a £40,000 trip including a safari and visits to Durban and Cape Town. Under South Africa’s entry rules,
if only one parent is travelling with a child under 18, a full birth certificate for the child is required alongside a leter of consent from the absent parent and a copy of their passport. Ashford said: “One of the
daughters was estranged from her ex-partner and there was no way they
could get a copy of his passport or a leter of consent, but they did have other paperwork. “I emailed the embassy in
Pretoria, but could not get an answer on whether this would be enough, so I decided to go to the high commission. Te family were extremely grateful.” Te commission told Ashford the
family would not be able to travel to South Africa.
Alison Ashford
It was well worth
making the trip as it cemented the relationship with my client
“It was well worth me making the
trip as it cemented the relationship with my client. Tis was a booking for more than £40,000 for a client of more than 20 years. I couldn’t say ‘I’m not sure’,” said Ashford, who is now looking at alternatives for the family,
including Sri Lanka and Florida. O Holidaysplease plans to take on 40 homeworkers in the next 18 months and raise its trade profile. It has 94 homeworkers and hopes to have about 140 by 2020. Diana Balosin has been appointed internally to the new role of marketing and public relations assistant with a remit to make the brand more visible in the trade and work on recruitment.
Clia reveals four ships that will host visits at River Cruise Conference
Clia has revealed the four ships that will host visits and overnight stays at this year’s Clia River Cruise Conference in November. A-Rosa Flora, Amadeus Silver III,
Crystal Bach and CroisiEurope’s Douce France will be docked in Amsterdam for the two-day event. A-Rosa Flora features an outdoor
heated pool and a large spa and sauna; Amadeus River Cruises’ ship has a restaurant with panoramic windows and an open-air river terrace; Crystal Cruises’ all-suite
12 25 JULY 2019
ship has one of the largest standard cabins in river cruising; and Douce France is one of CroisiEurope’s premium ‘five-anchor’ vessels. Delegates will have the chance
to view the ships at the River Cruise Conference, where sessions will take place at the Mövenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Centre alongside
Crystal Bach
a trade fair and networking opportunities. Andy Harmer, Clia UK and
Ireland director, said: “For agents who are serious about building their river cruise business and want to learn more about this fantastically diverse and exciting sector of the industry, the annual Clia River Cruise Conference is not to be missed.” Clia agents can register to atend
the River Cruise Conference at:
tinyurl.com/rivercruise2019
travelweekly.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
