The Fifth Annual ASTA River Cruise Expo Kicks Off in Amsterdam

“Biggest yet,” is becoming quite a theme when it comes to ASTA’s annual River Cruise Expo. This year, the Expo – the fifth annual, being held in Amsterdam – has drawn some 1,600 attendees, 838 of whom are first-time attendees. As in previous years, it’s the biggest yet iteration of the event.

“What began as an ambitious concept has, in a short time, become a must-attend industry event,” said Zane Kerby, CEO and president of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA). ““We launched this Expo in 2022 because we felt that river cruising deserved its own stage, its own spotlight, and its own community of professionals.”

Over the course of three days, the 1,600 attendees have the opportunity to tour 16 river cruise ships from 14 brands. In between ship tours and lunches and dinners onboard different ships each day, attendees will also take in two half-day general sessions, several educational workshops each day, a trade show, and more.

“River cruising offers an extraordinary opportunity for your business,” Kerby said. “While budget travel is struggling, river cruising is a premium experience… A full 60% of passengers and 80% of revenue is generated from North American travelers. Prices are up three to four percent from last year and bookings are up five percent… What’s more customer satisfaction is approaching 90%.”

“If you don’t smell an opportunity, the problem might be a stuffy nose,” he added.

The first full day of the Expo began with presentations from 10 river cruise executives, as well as a thought-provoking keynote from Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of “Eat, Pray, Love” and “All the Way to the River.”

Gilbert talked about how being present is critical to our emotional health and the antidote to the growing anxiety, fear, and feeling of “not enough” that she called a global pandemic. The latter are rooted in obsession with the future, the former with the “now” of being. She equated travel with presence and being in the moment, particularly because so often during travel, we’re forced out of our comfort zone and you can’t be checked out when you’re uncomfortable.

“When we travel, that’s what we’re doing. We’re disrupting our normal sensory input,” Gilbert said.

“One of the reasons that traveling to another culture is so mind-expanding is because you don’t know what’s going on,” she added later in her presentation. “Travel makes you have these experiences that bump you out of past depression and future anxiety.”

Sponsoring the Expo this year (and next) is Celebrity Cruises, which has a big presence at the show. The line’s senior vice president of sales Katina Athanasiou kicked off the welcome reception on Wednesday night and Celebrity has a separate trade show area where it is holding daily lunch and learns for advisors to learn more about its much-anticipated river cruise product.

Avalon Waterways sponsored Gilbert’s keynote, as well as the VIP opening reception, which included an evening canal cruise and dinner at the historic InterContinental Amstel Hotel, where one lucky advisor won a GASSAN diamond.

Next year’s ASTA River Cruise Expo will be in Vienna, Austria.