It’s not every day a communications professional jumps ship and becomes a sales agent, but that was Alice’s distinctive route to ultimately being newly promoted as Managing Director for Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, Australia and New Zealand.
Alice Ager’s interest in the travel industry serendipitously collided with meeting the man of her dreams. She was working in London for Ernst and Young when she met her now husband, Neil, who at the time was an account manager for British Airways.
He told her he was going away to host a ‘famil’ in Zambia, and even though she had no idea what a famil was, she knew she wanted to host one, one day.
Here’s Alice’s personal take on today’s travel industry landscape.
What’s happening in your business, and how does the forthcoming period look?
Things are busy, and it feels good! We are about to launch the Uniworld 2024 program, and then we’ll hit the road to launch the 2023/24 brochure for consumers. It will be great to see our travel agents face to face across Australia.
We are promoting the innovative new Cruise and Rail program in India, plus we have ‘Rivers of the World‘ cruises to talk about. All part of why selling Uniworld is such fun.
What are you excited about right now?
Our CEO, Ellen Bettridge, is coming to Sydney to headline CLIA Cruise360. She’ll give a global perspective on cruising and what is trending in other markets, which will be invigorating.
We’ve been talking to each other through a screen for 2.5 years, so it will be fantastic to see her in real life! We’re also planning a series of famils with agents in 2023, which is very exciting.
Are there trends you are seeing that are driving change in Uniworld or the industry?
The appetite for luxury travel is stronger than ever, with guests willing to pay for what they want or wait for what they want if it’s unavailable. Price is less of an object, and the 55+ demographic is spending up and travelling well.
Our bookings are trending to higher categories, longer itineraries and back-to-back sailings. These trends gave us the inspiration to design our 46+ night Rivers of the World itineraries. Around 40 per cent of the bookings have come from Australia and New Zealand. They have been a huge success in our markets.
What are the biggest challenges for travel?
Air availability and price are a challenge. There are so many great deals in the market for Australians to get away this year, but nowhere near the flight capacity to service the demand.
It means people are planning further ahead, hoping airfares will settle down by the time the tickets are in the date range.
Secondly, getting back into profit and balancing spending is still a challenge. We are catching up on two years of spending more than earnings, so we are still being careful and creative with our budgets.
What about the biggest opportunities?
The biggest opportunity lies in our partnership with agents. We want to help and support agents to make margins and to be even more comfortable selling luxury products.
There are now 4 million retirees in Australia who have contributed to superannuation their entire working lives. They have the time and the money to travel. Let’s work together in partnership to help them use it well!
How important is leadership right now? What should leadership look like?
Leadership is now more than just steering the ship to profitability. Transparency and honesty are key.
Everyone needs to feel like they are part of a bigger picture and where they fit into the story. After what we’ve been through, trust and respect across our industry are even deeper than before. Colleagues now feel more like family.
What would you like to see change? Or more of?
As we get busier and are travelling more and more, I hope we will continue to check in on each other. I loved the impromptu phone calls and catch-ups with friends in the industry to check if we were all ok. Let’s commit to keeping it going!
Do you think enough emphasis is being placed on sustainability in travel and addressing the climate crisis?
Yes, I think the right emphasis is there, and we’re all doing our bit, which is so important. We are so grateful to have the Treadright Foundation guiding our social responsibility principles at TTC.
However, with air travel contributing 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and fast fashion contributing 10%, I think we need to keep perspective on where we can truly make real personal impacts.
We can all commit to being single-use plastic free, whether as an organisation or as an individual. Commit to buying quality over quantity when it comes to clothes and fashion. Travelling sustainably is now possible, and I think as an industry, we should be proud of our progress.
What are your personal learnings from the pandemic?
I am a more confident leader as a result of the experience. I feel I know our business inside out and back to front. I am more confident in asking for what I need, and I am definitely more aware of my strengths and weaknesses.
What is your message to the industry?
You are amazing! Things might be different now, but who says they can’t be better?
You can find out more about Alice or get in touch with her via Linkedin.
