NEWS SPECIAL REPORT se returns


how we consistently tell the story to the consumers. We’ve nailed the shop element, with posters and messaging, but there’s so much more we could be doing to promote the sector to our customers. To enjoy more growth, we have to get more confidence to sell it and that in turn gets more consumers understanding the product.”


Andy Harmer, Clia UK & Ireland: “This is exactly what we are trying to do at Clia: finding a way to talk about these holiday types to give agents the confidence to talk about them to their customers. “It’s not just about education. It’s


also the relationship you have with your client so that you can introduce river and they trust that you’re offering something you know they will like. “At the RiverView Conference in


Vienna, more than 50% of attendees had never set foot on a river ship before, so it’s promising that agents want to learn about river.”


Nick Watts, Cruise.co.uk: “River cruise is very important to us. We need to offer variety, which is


why we’ve continued marketing river. We stopped during the pandemic, but post-pandemic we’ve been very strategic about who we work with. “We’re sending more consultants


on training courses to make sure they are confident promoting river to their customers. We’ve been very much ocean-focused, but we need to have other options. Every consultant has the opportunity to sell it.”


Miles Morgan, Miles Morgan Travel: “We’re ahead of the game when it comes to river cruise. It’s been five or six years since we got into it and we even have a river cruising sub-brand. “Initially we put a specialist in


every shop who could sell it, but we’re way past that now as everyone in the company is a specialist in river cruise. “It’s not just sold off the side of


a desk; it’s integral to what we do. The average values are great and commission is great, which dovetails into our core market of retired, affluent people. We want to grow our


£665


Cost to agents for a week’s Avalon cruise


overall base of clients by offering river cruises, but we also want to offer it to our loyal, existing base. “You just need to have confidence


to sell it, and if you’ve been on a river ship, you have confidence. We sell every river cruise line and, invariably, customers who try a river cruise will return because they love the concept.”


Hawke: “You soon get a sense for which customers belong on which ship. It helps to try and explain to agents and customers what ocean line each river line is most similar too. I would say Avalon is like Celebrity, based on the decor and the relaxed luxury, for example. But the most helpful thing is getting agents on ships. This year is a great year to get agents on board [because most


lines are still down on volume] so we can make use of space.”


Parton: “Getting agents to experience a river cruise for themselves is the best way to give them confidence to sell, which is why we have reintroduced our Suite Rewards programme, offering agents the chance to sail for just £665 for a week, which includes absolutely everything. Or, if an agent sells a group of 16 people, they get a place for free, which they can take, pass the saving on to their customers or host the trips themselves, meaning they effectively travel and experience Avalon for free.”


Morgan: “I’ve been making videos of everything we’ve done on this trip and have been posting them on my social channels, which has stimulated a lot of interest from our customers. This has hardly taken any time but is so powerful. It’s marketing on a shoestring budget but it really works.”


Clockwise from top: John Sullivan, Nicki


Tempest-Mitchell, Miles Morgan, Nick Watts and Andy Harmer


travelweekly.co.uk 25 MAY 2023 15


PICTURES: Steve Dunlop; Sarah Lucy Brown; Malcolm Cochrane; Amatucciphotography


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