| Avalon homing in on Aust/NZ

The bid for river cruise
passengers from Australia and
NZ is heating up with Avalon
Waterways’ latest strategy.
SCENIC TOURS AND APT HAD BETTER WATCH OUT –
Avalon Waterways is luring more Aussies and
Kiwis than ever and pitching its new ships at
these lucrative markets.
Speaking onboard the christening cruise of
Panorama, Christian Schweitzer, Globus’
local marketing manager, said Australian
sales are up 27% on this time last year, and
NZ sales are up 17%.
“It’s going to be our biggest year yet – we
outperformed the market last year as a result
of Panorama and we have made an effort to
have the most modern ships and a more
attractive product,” he said.
“This is also the first time we’ve invested
this much in New Zealand, but we’ve had
our best ever year of sales so we want to
continue that momentum.”
In a comparison with “two other river cruise
operators in Australia”, Schweitzer said
Panorama’s suites versus a similar size on the
same itinerary on the same dates are $1800-
$2500 per person cheaper.
Stewart Williams, md of Globus in Australia
and New Zealand, said Avalon’s port fees
were also far less than its competitors.
“I don’t know why they charge more for
using the same ports,” he said.
Williams said Avalon’s two new commissions,
Vista and Visionary, had been designed and
built in the same Panorama style, which was
influenced by the preferences of the
Australasian marketplace.
The company’s new vessel in Mekong, Avalon
Angkor, is also aimed at Australasians “because
they have the interest and the proximity”.
Patrick Clark, global md of Avalon Waterways,
said the company chose a 16-cabin ship so
that it could sail in and out of Ho Chi Minh
City and Siem Reap.
“All other vessels, because of their size,
have to board passengers outside of these
places and transfer people by road, which
takes between two and five hours,” Clark said.
Avalon’s 2012 program opened yesterday
with earlybird savings of $1000 per couple
for the season’s first sailings of Panorama,
Vista and Visionary.