Virgin Voyages may have exited local sailings after just one season, but the cruise line insists Australia remains firmly on its radar.
Speaking to media on Thursday in Sydney, Virgin Voyages Senior Vice President of Growth Stephen Hopkins reinforced the brand’s ongoing commitment to the Aussie market – and not just because it’s among the top three markets globally for the company.
“Australia is in this brand’s DNA. Our CEO [Nirmal Saverimuttu] is Australian. Our CMO [Nathan Rosenberg] is Australian,” said Hopkins, also an Aussie.
“The people that built this brand, built it with the quality and the standards of Australians in mind. That’s true of the food, that’s true of the entertainment, but it’s also true of the personality. There is an irreverence to our brand that is synonymous with Australians, and Australian travellers in particular.”
And Aussies seemed to have embraced the cruise line.
“It’s one of our top three markets globally. It continues to grow, and that’s occurred without us doing enough in this market,” Hopkins said.
To address these marketing gaps, the cruise line is adding two locally-based sales roles.
“We are doubling down on our resources in the Australian market… we’re going to be hiring a head of sales role reporting into Virgin Voyages, as well as a BDM role,” Hopkins explained.
After representing the cruise line for over two years at Travel the World, Pamela Nielsen moves into an in-house BDM role at Virgin Voyages for Australia and New Zealand. The company has yet to fill the other position. Both will report to Matthew Lebbern, Director of Sales – Europe & New Markets, who is also visiting Australia.
Targeting trade
Additionally, Hopkins said the company is working to strengthen its trade proposition, aiming to smooth out issues that have affected its dealings with travel advisors.
“We’re fixing some of the technical limitations that we’ve had around payments and commissions,” he stated.
“All that’s going to be resolved within the next quarter, and alongside the resources that we’re deploying, we feel really good about the ability, the ease, for agency businesses.”
US focus
Until now, “about 75% of the well over 10,000 Australians” who have sailed with the company did so in the Mediterranean.
But the cruise line believes its western US trips will be particularly appealing moving forward – especially with so many nonstop flights to North America.
“We are now, as of next Monday, going to be sailing our newest ship, Brilliant Lady out of LA. After doing a season in LA, it’s going to be moving up to Alaska,” Hopkins said.
“These are two priority markets that we heard from Australian consumers that they wanted to be able to book and experience Virgin Voyages on.
“We have over 20 LA-based itineraries out for sale at the moment. We have over 30 Alaska itineraries out for sale in the market.”
Aussie return?
As for local sailings, there’s still a possibility Virgin could return Down Under – but not in the near future.
Vice President of Marketing and Digital Innovation, Billy Bohan Chinique, told Karryon in Sydney the cruise line would love to return to Aussie waters, but it was a matter of making it work with current deployments. He added that having a local sailing also helped unlock Australia for many Americans unfamiliar with the destination.
Elsewhere, Chinique said he would like to see the cruise line in Asia, especially in Japan, but admitted such an undertaking would take at least two years to develop.
Karryon recently sailed with Virgin Voyages in the Caribbean. Read our review of the cruise here.
KARRYON UNPACKS: Virgin Voyages is making a larger play for the travel trade. More local support and smoother systems could make the brand easier to sell – and one to for travel advisors to keep an eye on.
