TRAVEL advisors should be actively engaging with their clients right now to secure cruise bookings, with huge pent-up demand seeing consumers trade up to longer cruises, larger suites and more upmarket experiences. That was one of the key takeaways from an industry webinar yesterday featuring Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA)...
TRAVEL advisors should be actively engaging with their clients right now to secure cruise bookings, with huge pent-up demand seeing consumers trade up to longer cruises, larger suites and more upmarket experiences.
That was one of the key takeaways from an industry webinar yesterday featuring Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) Peter Kollar, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises’ Alice Ager and Nikki Glading from Holland America Line/Seabourn.
The Travel Community Hub event highlighted the cruise lines’ ongoing support for the travel agency sector, but participants warned if advisors are hesitant to ramp up their business at the moment, customers are likely to make bookings direct.
Kollar said caution from travel advisors was understandable given the massive trauma the industry has gone through during the pandemic, but noted “that’s not happening in the mindset of the consumer, who is desperately dreaming and planning – and so you need to be in front of them right now”.
Key booking trends being seen by CLIA at the moment included strong demand for group and multigenerational family travel, as well as a “massive increase in river, expedition, luxury and bucket list voyages like world cruises – they are selling out so quickly now in unprecedented amounts,” Kollar said.
He also cited feedback that existing clients with future cruise credits (FCCs) are redeeming them for upgraded voyages, into suites or longer cruises or booking back-to-back itineraries.
“So travel advisors, if you have any clients with FCCs, get onto them because they’re ready to spend,” Kollar added.
Glading backed his assessment, confirming that HAL/Seabourn are seeing a significant increase in spend per booking.
“Travel agents are giving us objections like the expense of PCR tests and issues around insurance – we don’t get that from direct guests, so perhaps advisors are giving a bit too much airtime to that dialogue, or don’t have a way to overcome those objections,” she said.
She also noted that guests were less brand-loyal, and are prepared to shift to alternate cruise lines based on the varying experiences on offer.
Uniworld’s Ager confirmed strong demand for her cruise line’s product, with yields per booking up about 20% on 2019 levels, and four out of five reservations for balcony suites and above.
“Customers are not price driven at all,” she noted, with a strong trend for group enquiries.
Ager and Glading both stressed the key role of agents, saying they wanted to get behind advisors.
“We need our travel partners more than ever,” Ager said.
