CLIA’s Duffy to Agents: To Grow, Focus on Rookie Cruisers
by Andrew Sheivachman /For CLIA, a new year means another opportunity to raise the profile of cruising as new vessels launch around the globe. CLIA president Christine Duffy says she sees plenty of room for growth for both the cruise industry and cruise-selling travel agents.
Travel Market Report sat down with Duffy after CLIA’s annual state of the industry presentation last week to discuss opportunities for agents, top growth markets and the challenges facing the cruise industry.
For cruise-selling agents, where are the growth opportunities in 2014?
Duffy: There’s a big opportunity for agents in the multigenerational trend and affinity groups. You’ve got people who want to cruise, whether it’s multiple families or one big family, and theme cruises where everybody has something in common. You will pick up first-time cruisers and that way you develop new customers.
We’re focusing on developing more education and information resources for corporate and associate meeting planners as well. There are a lot of companies who use cruises for meetings and incentives, but there are many planners in companies who are not comfortable enough recommending a cruise. They also can pick up a lot of first-time cruisers.
CLIA’s survey of travel agents found a huge uptick in first-time cruisers. What do you attribute this to and will this continue?
Duffy: It’s a combination. These past two years were very challenging, and we’re coming out of a time where there was a lot of negative media attention.
Agents have gotten more confident again as well. The industry was very clear in 2013 about encouraging consumers thinking about a cruise to use a travel professional.
What we’re seeing initially [in early analysis of survey results] is that 85% of agents are saying they’re getting more interest in taking a cruise. When you explain to clients the variety of cruise offerings and great value, it’s just logical [to consider a cruise].
With a lot of capacity moving to the Caribbean from Europe, it’s easier to consider flying into Miami than booking an expensive flight to Germany.
Duffy: There are also a lot more cruises consumers can drive to, and the fact that you’ve got ships home-ported in New York that can get down to warmer weather. New Orleans has been a big drive-to market, along with Charleston, New York, Bayonne and Baltimore.
You spoke about millennials during your presentation. In the past it’s been a given that millennials were less interested in cruising. Is this changing?
Duffy: Millennials at the younger end have had the opportunity to cruise with their parents. It’s sometimes more challenging for older millennials who didn’t have those opportunities.
The problem is also that millennials don’t use travel agents. But when you look at all the different options for cruising, don’t you want to use an agent? People have mixed up the idea that they can go online to book a flight to Vegas, but this is very different. Pricing on cruises can be confusing, and that is why you should use an agent.
I think partially it comes down to marketing, though. Carnival may have an agent call-to-action, for example, but it doesn’t feel like there is much awareness of agents among millennials.
Duffy: We need to make it known that you don’t have to use your mother or grandmother’s travel agent. There are plenty of younger agents in the industry, and a lot of agents are accessible online too.
Do you expect cruise pricing to improve this year?
Duffy: Pricing will improve as demand improves. Capacity is going up, but it’s not going up as much as it was five or six years ago. There will be 16 new ships in 2014, and half of those are river. For ocean cruise ships sailing out of North America, we are cautiously optimistic there will be more demand. That’s why we’re encouraged about pricing.
The GAO put out a report on the cruise industry’s progress on safety and security. I read it, it was very long! Can you give an update on the two areas where the report said there has not been progress – passenger-overboard responsiveness and crime reporting?
Duffy: The cruise industry has implemented everything we have been required to implement. One of the other things is the overboard video surveillance and technology. Our members are testing it, but it’s not ready yet. We’ve gotten reports with as many as 400 false positives on an itinerary.
Also, not everything in the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act is in the cruise industry’s control. We are reporting all crimes according to the law. What the FBI does about it is not in our hands. That’s why four larger lines chose to self-report.
A year ago CLIA announced plans to merge with other cruise groups to create a global cruise organization. Where does that effort stand?
Duffy: We’re exactly where we planned to be. The implementation of the bylines and statutes have been aligned. Everyone has the CLIA brand.
The next big investment is in integrating and creating a web portal with different languages so we can share information more easily. We knew we wouldn’t be able to get it done in 2013; we will at least start working on it this year.