Coral Princess CEO Tony Briggs is hopeful of more credible pricing for expedition cruising in Australia. The change of ownership of Orion Expedition Cruises has been welcomed by rival operator Coral Princess Cruises as an opportunity to be rid of “false prices” for products such as expedition cruises in the...
Coral Princess CEO Tony Briggs
is hopeful of more credible
pricing for expedition cruising
in Australia.
The change of ownership of Orion Expedition
Cruises has been welcomed by rival operator
Coral Princess Cruises as an opportunity to
be rid of “false prices” for products such as
expedition cruises in the Kimberley region.
As head of the Australian company, Tony
Briggs told CW that local ship owners had
struggled to compete against international
vessels offering large discounts to consumers.
“We pioneered the concept of expedition
cruising in the Kimberley in 1995 and we never
discounted – only for past guests, groups and
charters,” he said.
“The biggest change in the past six or
seven years has been the level of discounting
occurring in the market by foreign-owned,
foreign-flagged, foreign-crewed ships with
a much lower cost base, who don’t employ
Australian workers or pay Australian taxes, so
it was a challenge for all of us to compete.”
Coral Princess, North Star Cruises, Kimberley
Quest and The Great Escape were forced to
match the lower fares, Briggs said, which had a
dramatic effect on business.
“We couldn’t grow to our full potential, and
there was no chance for new local operators to
enter the market,” he said.
“Hopefully we’re coming out of that now –
we just want a level playing field.”
Briggs said he was “heartened” by recent
comments earlier this month by Orion’s new
owner Sven Lindblad that he would “restore
credibility in pricing” for expeditions in the
region (CW 04 Jun).
“When there’s a false price being set to allow
for discounting, it creates a lot of confusion in
the market, which is not good for operators or
consumers,” Briggs said.
He urged agents to keep in mind the
differences between the experiences on
itineraries offered by local ships compared to
ships owned by foreign companies.
“When they put clients on an Australian
coastal cruise on an international ship, it’s not
an Australian cruise – they have to go to an
international port, such as Timor.
“We’re proud to have Australian-flagged
and Australian-crewed ships in the Kimberley
for six months of the year offering more
departures than any other operator,” he said.
Coral Princess, Coral Princess II and Oceanic
Discoverer also sail in the Great Barrier Reef,
New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia, Cape
York and Arnhem Land.
