The best cruise-selling travel
agents in Australia and New
Zealand were celebrated on the
weekend at the industry’s
awards night.
FOR the second consecutive year, WA’s Bicton
Travel has been named the top Australian
cruise agency at the annual International
Cruise Council Australasia (ICCA) Awards.
In second place was Cruiseabout Turramurra
(NSW), followed by Phil Hoffmann Travel
Glenelg (SA) in third.
Consultant of the Year was Roland Kautzky,
from Cruiseabout, Port Melbourne, Victoria.
Accepting the award for Bicton Travel, the
agency’s owner Carole Smethurst said she
“didn’t think we had a cat in hell’s chance of
winning it two years in a row”.
Smethurst said the victory was due to the
support of the cruise lines and the enthusiasm
of Australian travellers.
“WA has been a little bit left out of things for
many years,” she said.
“But the very fact that so many cruise lines
are sending fantastic ships to Australia goes to
prove that Australians are a fantastic race of
people willing to travel anywhere, and they’ve
really embraced the cruise industry.”
The owner of the bronze-winning company,
Phil Hoffmann was also presented with the
Neil Frazer Award for an Outstanding
Contribution by an Individual.
In New Zealand, three Auckland agencies
won the top three spots: iCruise,
Lets Cruise, and Cruise Republic.
NZ’s Cruise Consultant of the Year was Sue
Grigg, from Cruiseabout, Ponsonby.
Introducing the gala ceremony held at the Hilton
Hotel in Sydney, ICCA chairman Gavin Smith
acknowledged that 2012 has had a dramatic start.
“Following Christmas and New Year, we
entered January – when all cruise lines ‘big and
small’, ‘blue water and river’, ‘European and
Aussie’ – enjoyed their biggest booking weeks
in history,” he said.
“We were indeed set for a bumper year, and
then, a matter of days into the year, on 13
January we witnessed tragedy on a grand scale.”
Referring to the grounding of Costa Concordia
in Italy, Smith said local consumers “seemed to
rationalise” the accident as “an irregular act and
possibly the result of an error of judgment by a
single man” rather than a negligent industry.
“In fact, Australia and New Zealand more
than any other market has gotten back to
business, recording further record booking weeks.”
The awards night was hosted by Today show
host Lisa Wilkinson who declared herself a
“cruise convert” after an Antarctic voyage in
2010 and a European river cruise with Avalon
Panorama in 2011.
