Australian small ship cruise specialists, Cruise Traveller, has embarked on a concerted campaign to sell 2021 product, with bookings for expedition sailings next year already up 27 per cent.
The Managing Director of the Gold-Coast-based cruise wholesaler and retailer, Craig Bowen, said he was buoyed by robust bookings for future departures and resilient confidence amongst loyal cruisers, which he said showed all signs of continuing over coming months.
“Our cruise bookings for 2021 product to the end of March, 2020, are 27 per cent up on the same period last year for 2020 sailings,” Mr Bowen said. “This is a combination of new 2021 bookings and all the re-bookings from cancelled 2020 sailings and I am confident that this pattern will continue over coming months. This trend is evident elsewhere in the industry as well. Clearly, then, pent-up demand will constrict availability in 2021 – particularly for small ships – which is why we are urging our guests to secure their bookings for next year as soon as possible. In fact, we had one guest wanting to make a sizeable booking for a Kimberley expedition but a lack of availability next year pushed the booking to 2022.”
Mr Bowen said experienced adventurers remained loyal to cruising despite negative publicity in recent months. “I am confident that the resilience and passion for adventure that Australian small ship lovers have shown in the past will make for a strong 2021,” he said.
“We have written off 2020 – it’s water under the bridge and we can’t fix it – but we can work on tapping obvious demand for 2021 which is what we are now doing for our 48 boutique cruise line partners. Fortunately, much of the product we are selling is for mid-2021, with the best-selling product being for Riviera Travel River Cruises, Ponant, Adventure Canada, Victory Cruise Lines and American Queen Steamboat Company.
“At Cruise Traveller, we believe it is commercially imperative that we now transition beyond warm and fuzzy communication to the stimulation of 2021 product which is rapidly filling up. We have retained every member of our amazing team and this path we have embarked upon is one we are navigating with renewed vigour.
“We see light at the end of the tunnel and we remain extremely confident about the future of the small ship cruise industry.”
Visit www.cruisetraveller.com.au
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