Report – Brighton: Amadeus held its annual Cruise Partner Forum in Brighton, United Kingdom, on 25 and 26 May. The highlight of the event, a panel discussion on…
Report – Brighton: Amadeus held its annual Cruise Partner Forum in Brighton, United Kingdom, on 25 and 26 May. The highlight of the event, a panel discussion on Electronic distribution trends: present and future attended by travel agents, cruise operators and technology suppliers alike, concluded that simplifying the reservation process is the secret to unlocking potential growth in the cruise industry. The panelists and audience agreed that working together in partnership is the most effective way to achieve this.
Before the panel discussion, William Gibbons, Director of the Passenger Shipping Association, presented figures from the UK market which indicated a potential market of 7.7 million cruise holidays. The potential in Europe is absolutely enormous, concluded Mr Gibbons.
Automating bookings is key to making the most of this growth and cruise lines are not blind to the cost benefits of moving bookings from the telephone onto an automated booking channel – either via a travel agent booking through an electronic distribution system or over the internet. Selling a cruise is a complex process. It probably takes four or five phonecalls and the cruise lines have set commissions at a level which makes it worth the travel agencies` while to support those calls, explains Robert Chamberlin, Global Sales Manager, Amadeus Cruise. Travel agency commissions start at around 10% which is not to be sniffed at when the customer is booking a €5,000 cruise, and airline commissions are at, or close to, zero.
Three years ago, about 25% of cruise bookings were automated, estimates Mr Chamberlin. Now that figure is closer to 45% or 50%. This rapid growth is borne out by Amadeus` own worldwide cruise bookings, which shot up by 94% in 2004. So far this year, Amadeus UK bookings have grown by 150% compared with last year.
Amadeus began simplifying cruise bookings with the launch of Amadeus Cruise two years ago. The cruise distribution, marketing and sales tool provides real-time reservations information enabling agents to sell simply and quickly. The booking process is supported by an intuitive, graphical user interface which eliminates the need for agents to learn time consuming cryptic entries.
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