Partnerships opening the door to new-to-cruise, say sector leaders
Leaders from Riviera Travel, Cunard and Princess Cruises have underlined their support for brand partnerships, saying the number of new-to-cruise travellers they attract is “quite incredible”
The cruise industry’s affiliations with lifestyle brands, such as Aston Martin, BAFTA and Global Hotel Alliance, was one of several topics discussed during this year’s Advantage Latitude Cruise Conference, taking place aboard Sky Princess this week (14-16 October).
On a panel moderated by Advantage Travel Partnership’s John Sullivan earlier today, Vicky Billing, director of trade & partnerships UK & Ireland, Riviera Travel, said partnerships are a great way to get new-to-cruise and new-to-sector clients on board.
“Our age demographic is 60-plus,” she said. “We partner with English Heritage and the amount of yet-to-cruise customers that have come from that channel is quite incredible.”
Ruth Venn, associate vice president sales & distribution, P&O Cruises, said the industry as a whole does a great job at category appraisal so it can ascertain which brands have crossover with the sector.
She explained: “All of our brands do different partnerships with chefs, we have our BAFTA partnership we’ve got pride of Britain next week, so all those things do a job for us as a category.
“We’ve done three years with BAFTA. It’s been fantastic [for the line] and when you think about new-to-cruise, that’s how we reach those audiences.
“The first year of our BAFTA partnership we had one of the highest visits to our website. They maybe never heard of us before so it’s been a fantastic partnership. We’ve got our Southampton FC front-of-shirt partnership, too, so it’s about being in those spaces to talk to yet-to-cruise.”
Iain Ballie, associate vice president EMEA sales, Cunard, argued that brand partnerships are good news for agents as it gives them a different angle to sell.
“We have partnerships with the Olivier awards, celebrating British theatre, and we partner with Cheltenham Literature Festival. What we find is it puts cruise at forefront of conversations that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. Agents should capitalise on that intrigue so they can convert.”
Princess Cruises sales director UK & Europe Hayley Moore added: “It’s a conversation starter. Some of the partnerships aren’t always the top of funnel but it brings the experience to life.
“It might not break down the barrier of wanting to go on a cruise but just having that household name is another way to having a meaningful conversation.”
Elsewhere at the conference, Jonny Peat, Advantage’s director of cruise, announced that the company would strengthen its cruise division after strong financial growth this year to date.
