Land Vacations in Spotlight at CruiseOne Conference
by Andrew Sheivachman /Continued shrinkage in cruise commissions was the unspoken subtext at this week’s Cruise One and Cruises Inc. national conference, where land-based vacations ranked high on the agenda.
In presentations to about 650 travel sellers, leadership of the franchise and host agency groups emphasized the emerging importance of land-based vacations to cruise-selling agents.
“The growing land vacation business has helped empower more of you to be better rounded travel advisors,” Dwain Wall, senior vice president and general manager of CruiseOne and Cruises Inc., told agents gathered at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Expanded offerings
Wall emphasized that “cruising has been and will always be core to who we are and what we do.”
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. have expanded their land-based offerings and are looking to offer more robust resort options in the future.
In 2013, the company expects land-based vacations to comprise 15% of its total sales, according to Wall.
Brad Tolkin, co-president and CEO of World Travel Holdings, told agents that the firm is committed to boosting sales of land-based trips.
World Travel Holdings is the parent company of CruiseOne and Cruises Inc.
Driving repeat bookings
That’s a strategy that complements agents’ cruise sales, he said.
“We don’t want to abandon our customer after a cruise vacation,” said Tolkin. “If we bring them in the door with a cruise vacation, we can sell them a resort vacation in the future."
“In 2012, our repeat rate is up 20%. This is how we know this reengagement is working.”
More biz by phone
One bright note for the agency industry is a steady drop in World Travel Holdings’ online bookings as a percentage of overall bookings.
“This is a good thing for everyone in this room,” said Tolkin. “We want that phone call.”
Another positive indicator is the fast growth of CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. According to Wall, 47% of the CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. network joined in the last three years, with new members making up nearly half of its total franchisees.
Costa Concordia blues
For all the talk of land vacations, cruise still took center stage at the conference. One topic on everyone’s mind was the impact of soft pricing and extreme discounting in the wake of the Costa Concordia disaster.
The industry is still recovering from the fallout of the Costa Concordia disaster. “We lost the cruise rookies for a period of time,” said Tolkin.
For their part, seasoned cruisers looking to capitalize on reduced fares have been more selective with their bookings, he noted.
Outlook for 2013
Looking ahead, Tolkin said that business on-the-books for 2013 is strong overall, but there remains softness in certain regions.
The Caribbean, in particular, is lagging, while bookings are growing for Europe, the Mediterranean and Alaska. However, the booking window for Europe and the Mediterranean remains short, perhaps reflecting continued consumer concerns in the face of economic and political uncertainty in those regions.
Luxury bookings are slower than mid-range bookings, while river cruise bookings continue to rise, he said.
Service fee encouragement
Service fees, including a $24.99 fee for online cruise bookings, have helped boost revenues, according to Tolkin.
“Think about a service fee if you’re not charging one today,” he advised agents.
As for the future of cruise distribution, Tolkin commented that agents remain a valuable tool for cruise lines.
“[Agents are] an army of 100,000 people getting into every corner of the U.S.,” said Tolkin, quoting former Celebrity Cruises CEO Dan Hanrahan. “Why would [the cruise lines] want to offend them?”