Australia’s largest cruise promotion has received a wave of support from travel agencies and cruise lines. MORE than 1,000 agents and 29 cruise lines are crunching the numbers following the first National Cruise Week, which wrapped up on Sunday. On the event’s website, which was created specifically for the seven-day...
Australia’s largest cruise
promotion has received a wave
of support from travel agencies
and cruise lines.
MORE than 1,000 agents and 29 cruise lines are
crunching the numbers following the first
National Cruise Week, which wrapped up on
Sunday.
On the event’s website, which was created
specifically for the seven-day campaign,
consultants in Australia and NZ expressed
praise for the inaugural national promotion.
Kathy Pavlidis, of Gem Travel and Cruise, in
North Croydon, Victoria said: “We had a record
week of cruise sales and are over the moon
about it – can’t wait to do it all again next year.”
Ryan Posa, general manager, Cruise Republic
(Auckland and Melbourne), also reported a
rise in booking numbers.
“And we picked up a lot more enquiry for
product that we do not sell as much of,” he said.
Robyn and Murray Sinfield, owner-managers
of Home Travel Company in Tasmania,
emphasised that the promotion was excellent
publicity for cruising.
“We had a great week with incremental sales
from the work we put into it with morning and
afternoon tea sessions, daily newspaper
advertisements showcasing the world of cruise.”
Adam Armstrong, commercial manager,
Royal Caribbean Cruises Australia, revealed
that NCW had delivered the “second biggest
sales week in our history”.
ICCA board member Andrew Millmore, who
oversaw the project, told Cruise Weekly that
NCW was “a great way to show that they’re really
working together to provide an unprecedented
week of special offers across an immense
amount of cruise styles and experiences.”
Millmore also noted that the new NCW
website made it easy for consumers to locate a
convenient ICCA-qualified travel agency.
Brett Jardine, general manager, ICCA, said
the project had been “on the drawing board
for a couple of years”, inspired by the success
of similar promotions run by sister cruise
associations CLIA (USA) and PSA (UK).
“Both of them have been very supportive and
provided advice that should ensure we learn
from all the success they have had in the past,”
he said.
