14-15 Q&A ttgk cruise 25/1/08 09:47 Page 2
In-depth Knowledge
It’s all about demand
and destinations –
not discounts, says
Ace’s Andy Harmer
Q
Where are the growing broadcast over the inter-
destinations in core net, and we’ll try to do it
markets and further afield? as often as we can. See
A
The key destinations continue www.cruiseexperts.org
to be the Caribbean and the
Mediterranean. But there are
some new ones opening up, and the
Q
There’s been a
big upsurge in
Greek Islands, Tunisia and Morocco are ex-UK cruises,
increasingly popular. People are looking and there are many
for new destinations around the Med, new ships. Is that
and we are seeing destinations focus on sustainable? Will the
cruise passengers as a great way to get extra capacity make
visitors. For example, the Canary selling harder?
Islands is one of our headline sponsors
at the Cruise Convention in May.
A
No. At the
beginning of
2006, we forecast
Q
A big issue in the sector that in 2008 we would have
is that agents have been 1.5m cruise passengers.
criticised for giving away We have now revised
commission. Has Ace had success that forecast up to
in reducing this practice? 1.55m passengers. At
A
I think if you compare it to the the moment, demand
package holiday market, then is growing in line with
cruise is less likely to be so capacity increases. It is
heavily discounted, which is a success still a very small part
in itself. How agents decide to increase of the total holiday
their business is, of course, up to them. package market –
We can’t tell them not to discount, but about 6%. So we have
we can give them options to help them got a long way to go.
sell less on price. At the convention we But it’s far too early to
will run a Travel More and Discount talk about overcapacity. Q
&
Less course. As we increase the level of
awareness and demand, we will be left
with no need for discounting.
Q
How does cruise
fight its corner
environmentally?
A
Q
What is Ace doing for
agents this year other
than the Convention?
A
First of all, I think cruise
stands up really well to air
travel, for example, because
A
We will run a series of six we are not just a mode of transport – Andy Harmer is director
Regional Cruise Expos. These we are also a hotel and restaurant, and
of business development
are one-day events all over the we provide accommodation for the
country, and will include breakout crew. Cruise lines are making huge
for the Association of
sessions, networking, workshops and investments in recycling at sea, turning
Cruise Experts.
seminars with some of the key industry dirty water into clean water of almost
players. Online, we have just launched drinkable quality, and are using more
Watermark TV. We will go around film- local suppliers rather than flying in
ing big cruise events such as the Queen what we need. And there are also
Victoria launch and keel-laying in a programmes for developing fuel that is
news bulletin style, so agents feel they both more efficient and more environ-
are part of the industry. They’ll be mentally friendly. A lot is being done.
14 TTG Knowledge CRUISE January 2008
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