River cruising is seeing remarkable customer interest and growth, attracting new travellers to this category. Avalon Waterways President Pam Hoffee shares how travel advisors can leverage the latest river cruise trends to expand their businesses – and reap the commissionable rewards.
“River cruising is about the destination – it’s all about local experiences,” Pam Hoffee told travel advisors at the recent Cruise360 conference and trade show in Brisbane about rising river cruise trends.
“It’s a really great time to get into selling river because of the interest and you already have people in your database who are primed to go on a river cruise.
“River cruising is already very lucrative and can be a very lucrative part of your business.”
Ms Hoffee said touring and ocean cruising are the two channels Avalon sees as key opportunities to convert new clients to river cruising.
River cruising, particularly in Europe, has appeal for its inclusivity and access to land product that might have sold out during the peak summer season.
“I just kept hearing over and over if you didn’t book Italy, it had sold out already this last summer. We certainly are doing incredibly well but we still had availability for clients,” she added.
Immersive experiences
Ms Hoffee said Avalon Waterways itineraries feature a daily included excursion and its Active Discovery program offers a choice of three activities, tapping into what travellers want.
“This is a fabulous way to travel because people can pick and choose what works for them and then come back on board, have lunch together and share their different experiences.”
“Over the last 10 years, we saw our customers were changing and they were looking for more flexibility.
“As an industry, we really partner with the communities where we travel. People are looking for active and immersive experiences – really engaging with the community – and this is happening across the river cruise industry and it’s exciting to see.”
Group travel
Avalon Waterways’ research showed a generational shift towards younger cruisers coming aboard river voyages as well as new-to-cruise travellers.
“There’s a trend of people travelling with groups – that’s a huge opportunity for the travel advisor community,” Ms Hoffee said.
“In the past, it was predominantly couples travelling together, and it’s still the majority of how people will travel, but [in our research] a huge percentage said that they want to travel in groups.
“All river cruise lines have great group allowance offers and opportunities to host a group as a travel advisor.”
She added another trend Avalon has observed in Europe and the US are groups combining river cruising, ocean cruises and land tours and travelling longer in one trip.
“It’s always been a trend to travel longer and now it’s even longer. There are all sorts of ways you can package and create this longer trip – something that is exclusive to you as an advisor and build a group.”
“And for advisors, it’s commissionable, which is another fantastic reason to sell river cruising,” she said.
All-inclusive itineraries
Despite current cost-of-living pressures globally, Ms Hoffee said river cruises remove the barrier to sales due to their all-inclusive itineraries.
“River cruises include all meals and beverages, excursions and gratuities – once they see the inclusivity, the value is just readily apparent in river cruising. You’re sailing through the heart of the destination and you only have to unpack once so it’s just super easy,” she said.
“I talk to advisors a lot about the challenges you’re facing and how long it takes to book a FIT trip.
“Our goal is to be your partner and make your life easier because we know the biggest challenge right now is just keeping up with the amount of business that’s coming in.
“We’re certainly thankful to our travel advisor partners who are leading the way in introducing river to your clients.”
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