AUSTRALIAN travel
agents are “greedy
for the commission”
when selling luxury
liner Cunard, says
Int’l Development
Director David
Rousham.
The Cunard exec
made the remark
when responding to
Cruise Weekly on a
question as to what
he’s learnt from the
local trade while in
Australia this week.
Rousham met with
80 agents on Queen
Victoria and 300 off-ship in the
past few days, in addition to 10
senior agency executives during a
whirlwind trip down under.
The Brit – from Queen
Victoria’s Commodore Club on
Mon – said consultants prefer a
variety of options to promote in
Australia, rather than just shorter
duration sailings such as the
recent three-day QE voyage from
Brisbane to Sydney.
“[Agents] realise there is not
much to make out of those. The
trade is actually saying they want
a decent mix of cruise lengths
because they are greedy for the
commission.”
“They don’t want price
dumping, they really like the idea
of inclusivity [CW Tue], because
it means we commercially don’t
need to push for our final point of
occupancy,” Rousham added.
MEANWHILE, Rousham said last
week’s Brisbane-Sydney sampler
voyage, operating via Newcastle
had a younger demographic
aboard than usual for Cunard.
“They were much younger than
we thought & they were spinning
on the dance floor til 3am”.
