Travelpack has launched a dedicated cruise platform for travel agents after seeing cruise sales grow faster than other areas of its business.
The platform, called Onboard with Travelpack, follows the appointment in May of Emma Sanger-Horwell as Director of Cruise.
Onboard with Travelpack will offer cruises with 80 lines, including some boutique, as well as flights from regional airports, 100,000 hotels and a range of tours.
The platform will include a cruise search function, information, and a breakdown of four key cruise types: Expedition, Ocean, River, and Yacht Style, as well as video and editorial-based content.
A new closed Facebook group, Onboard with Travelpack – Agents, has also been set up, featuring exclusive deals, product information and incentives, with members also given access to a dedicated Cruise Directory.
Director Vishal Patel (pictured above) said the launch follows a 60% rise in its cruise passengers and a 54% increase in cruise turnover so far this year.
In comparison, its tailormade holiday customers were up by 33%, while tailormade turnover was up 31%.
“The [cruise] numbers are not astronomical at this stage, but they’re solid numbers. In 18 months, we’re looking at more than doubling those numbers again. We’re confident we can double what we do next year.”
He said Travelpack’s cruise offering is still in its infancy, making up only a small part of its business, but he said he was confident that will change.
“We hear it everywhere that cruise is growing, with more ships being introduced, more expeditions, more river cruises and oceanic ships getting bigger and bigger.
“More boutique ships are being introduced and there are more yacht sailings everywhere in the world, so it is definitely growing in terms of the amount of inventory,” he added.
Asked where Travelpack expects to see the most growth in cruising, Vishal added: “We sell quite a lot of tailor-made European holidays already, so some of the river cruising will be a nice little add-on.
“Then, we do sell lots of Vietnam and Mekong, so certain river cruises we kind of already sell, but it would be good to elevate that and build those levels up a bit more.”
Travelpack has two dedicated cruise Product Executives and a total of 12 team members selling cruise. Vishal said more would be recruited ahead of Peaks.
“It’s going to take time to reach our targets, but we want to be a big player. We’re not going to go from zero to 100 overnight, but if we put the right structures in place, with the right training for the team and for our agent partners, we can focus a lot more on cruise.”
