ONLINE travel giant Expedia wants to be the “biggest seller of cruise product in Australia,” according to the company’s senior vice president of global tour & transport Greg Schultze.
Speaking to CW in Las Vegas last week at the 15th annual Expedia Partners Conference, Schultze said the company is “definitely focused on Australia for cruise expansion”.
Currently the local Expedia cruise offering, which debuted just over a year ago (TD 21 Aug 2013) is operated by a third party.
The Expedia conference saw around 3,700 suppliers gather for updates about the technology firm’s initiatives, and while many were hoteliers, there was also a strong cruise contingent with Carnival Corporation’s World’s Leading Cruise Lines being one of the conference sponsors.
In North America, the company also operates a network of Expedia Cruise Center retail outlets, while the online cruise offering is now on Expedia’s newest platform which will allow the launch of combined air-cruise packages in “just a few months,” Schultze said.