Virgin Voyages ups Caribbean target Ella Sagar


Virgin Voyages’ sales chief wants half of all UK trade bookings in 2026 to be for the Caribbean, a target she describes as “ambitious but achievable”. The Mediterranean has been the


adult-only line’s top destination for UK passengers, with the Caribbean accounting for about 10% of total sales in 2024 and 33% in 2025. UK director of sales SJ Walker


told Travel Weekly the Caribbean has made up 43% of UK bookings so far this year, fuelled by the line’s deployment of all four of its ships in the destination, as she set out plans to continue this upward trajectory. “Our ambition for the year is to have one-in-two bookings converted


for the Caribbean,” she said. Walker is hoping for a further


boost in Caribbean bookings following the return of the line’s Bring on Bimini fam trip incentive, as well as a Caribbean-specific wave promotion. “Driving that Caribbean message


and prominence in the wave period is really important to us,” she said. Walker said the adult-only


line’s expanded trade sales team would enable it to be “much more prominent on the frontline with agents than ever before” and “reach new partners with a luxury audience”. She said: “There are a lot of


agents we might not be talking to with those luxury clients who might want to look sideways as a new-to-cruise customer and consider something different.”


Riviera’s new chief eyes further growth as sales ‘skyrocket’


Samantha Mayling


Riviera Travel’s new boss is looking at the positioning and perception of the river cruise and escorted tour operator as part of his strategy to continue growing the company’s “skyrocketing” sales. Matt Luscombe, who succeeded


Phil Hullah as chief executive on January 1 as the latter stepped down, brings leadership experience from the travel, leisure and retail sectors. Luscombe said Riviera’s


performance since Covid had been “amazing” and 2026 had started with “an absolute bang”.


8 29 JANUARY 2026 “We are having by far the best


peak trading period we’ve ever had, which makes things an awful lot easier for me – coming into a company which is just going gangbusters,” he told a Travel Weekly webcast. He thanked trade partners, adding:


“You guys are working very hard to help us achieve those numbers. We launched a really well-executed ‘10% off’ campaign, supported hugely by our trade partners, and numbers have just skyrocketed.” He said the company began as


a tour operator but is now better known for river cruising, although the business split is about equal.


Asked if education or rebranding


was key to driving more awareness of tours, he said: “Three weeks in, I don’t want to announce any new brands, but I think our brand architecture is an opportunity, so I will be looking at that.” He said Riviera is seeing “brilliant


growth” through the trade for both sides of the business but added: “When you speak to agents, they say there is a stronger association right now between Riviera and river cruise than on the tour side.”


SJ Walker


holiday market and help the cruise sector overall by building that adult-only audience,” she said. Walker also unveiled plans for a


Valiant Lady summer tour in the UK with the aim of hosting “as many First Mates (agents) as we can”. “We did it for Brilliant Lady for


two days, but this is going to be a lot bigger,” she said. Walker said wave business had


To help achieve this, Walker


aims to “simplify” Virgin Voyages’ adult-only messaging and focus on promoting its service, suites and destinations, including the line’s debut season in Alaska and maiden calls in Los Angeles this summer. “Hopefully we can dip into that


been “consistent”, with “momentum growing week on week”. “January is traditionally our biggest


booking month, but we did see strong spikes in performance in July and August last year as well,” she added. “I would expect January to be a


significant and important booking month for us again, and the results keep me quietly confident.”


Watch the webcast with Matt Luscombe at: travelweekly.co.uk


Matt Luscombe Asked about river cruising,


he said: “We are looking at opportunities like further differentiation and innovation of our ships and of our service model, and at how we appreciate our most loyal guests, and really drive those high retention rates. At the same time, it’s really important that we introduce new customers to the model.” On escorted tours, he said:


“There is a big obligation on us to cross-sell between our different offers and between our customer bases.”


travelweekly.co.uk


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