Travel Associates, the leading luxury brand of Flight Centre Travel Group, has completed its series of luxury cruise events across Australia and New Zealand where more than 2,300 guests were in attendance.
The program of events started in Sydney and were followed by further events on the Gold Coast, Auckland, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Earlier in the year, the group had made a statement with their preview showcase at the start of this cruise event series, installing a large, purple pin drop gem and hosting an activation of events at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal in August.
Travel Associates General Manager Rachel Kingswell said this style of consumer event has proven to be a success in reaching both new and existing customers.
“Cruising is the fastest growing segment globally, where 27 per cent of customers over the past two years have been new to cruise, so we wanted to reach these customers in an interactive way that would showcase the breadth of luxury cruising,” said Kingswell.
“Between the immersive supplier showcases to guests being able to plan their cruise with advisors in the gated booking lounge with a canape and a glass of champagne in hand, we were really able to bring luxury cruising to life,” she said.
“We were particularly pleased to see that 74 per cent of those through the doors were new customers for Travel Associates, as luxury cruise ‘intenders’ rely on our expertise and deep industry knowledge.”
“We’ve held events before but nothing to this scale, and it’s certainly paid off in both actual return on investment and feedback we’ve received from partners and clients. Each advisor took away approximately 5 to 10 bookings and there was a significant number of guests going on to book their first Travel Associates holiday.
“We’re confident that the new clients we’ve welcomed will be clients for life,” she said.
All guests were qualified with a ticket price, allowing advisors to connect with hot leads.
Vice President, Sales and General Manager, APAC of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Lisa Pile, said the events provided the perfect opportunity to introduce its products to new clients. Regent was a platinum partner of the event series.
“We were delighted to partner with Travel Associates on their first luxury cruise event series – there’s no other luxury travel retailer doing anything like this. It gave us an invaluable opportunity to introduce Regent to guests and connect face-to-face with clients who were ready to book a cruise,” said Pile.
The events were hosted at luxury hotels around Australia: Hyatt Regency Sydney; The Star Broadbeach; EOS by SkyCity Adelaide; The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne; and at Viaduct Event Centre in Auckland.
As reported in Karryon earlier this week, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) revealed that cruise tourism surged to a record $8.43 billion economic value during 2023-2024, citing a 49.7 per cent spike over the previous year.
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