Havila Voyages’ boss has announced the cruise line’s intention to focus on its direct booking strategy despite recently underlining its commitment to the UK trade.
Chief Executive Officer Bent Martini said the Norwegian coastal cruise line will ‘continue to prioritise direct bookings’ as it announced operating revenue had increased by 15% in the second quarter (Q2) compared to last year.
However, in May, Havila announced the appointment of Robin Griffiths as its first Strategic Account Manager for the UK travel trade, signalling a shift towards closer trade partnerships.
Robin reports to Global Head of Sales Matthew Valentin, who said at the time: “His appointment demonstrates our commitment to working with the UK trade and supporting them as we continue to grow our business.”
This week, Havila reported further growth in Q2, with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rising to NOK98million (£7.7m), an increase of 24% on last year.
Average occupancy across the fleet also rose to 83%, up from 74%, while the number of passenger nights increased by 17% to 99,800.
Bent said: “We are very pleased with the development in the second quarter. The strong earnings growth shows that our investment in commercial capacity, sales and marketing is now paying off.
“With good occupancy and 100 percent operational uptime across the fleet, we are delivering profitability as well as predictability for the coastal communities we serve.
“Bookings into the third quarter are strong, and we’re seeing steadily increasing demand for our product.”
Havila also reduced CO2 emissions by 36%, compared with the 2017 baseline level for the coastal route, and cut food waste to 107g per guest per day.
Bent added: “Sustainability is an integral part of how we run the company, and we are proud to deliver both lower emissions than our targets on the coastal route and the focus we maintain on reducing food waste in our daily operations.”
