Agency Groups Optimistic About 2022 Cruise Sales Despite Omicron
经过多里·萨尔茨曼(Dori Saltzman)/
旅行社团体说,尽管有略微严峻的礼物,但邮轮预订的未来看起来很光明。尽管一些巡洋舰在今年的前三个月中表现出一些犹豫,但几乎没有一个取消他们的长期计划。那些紧张的人主要是在推动他们的预订“直到今年晚些时候,他们可以更确定获得自己喜欢的完整巡游体验。
Impact Varies, But All First Quarter
Agency groups that Travel Market Report spoke with were pretty much split down the middle with about half seeing a noticeable impact of the omicron COVID-19 variant (and related CDC cruise warning) to cruise bookings and/or an uptick in cancellations, and half seeing a minor bump.
“We are seeing a rise in cancellations, but mostly close-in sailings in the first quarter,” Michelle Fee, CEO and founder of Cruise Planners.
费费说,大部分取消是在疾病预防控制中心发布了最近警告巡航之后的。
“When your Center for Disease Control tells you ‘do not get on a cruise ship’ and you’re supposed to get on one in a week, you do think twice about it,” she says.
Avoya Travel销售高级副总裁Steve Hirshan表示,他们没有看到取消,但他们肯定会注意到第一季度的预订更少。
他说:“那些预订最后一刻的冬季假期的人没有预订。”
Cruiseone/Dream Vacations总经理Drew Daly也是如此。“ Omicron的变体肯定为邮轮卖家提供了逆风……近距离预订,我们目前没有看到我们通常会的皮卡。但是人们仍在预订,还有进一步的活动。”
Travelsavers首席销售官Kathryn Mazza-Burney同意。“第一季度已经柔软,现在更柔和了。”
但是马扎·伯尼(Mazza-Burney)还指出,影响因其顾问所在的国家的位置而有所不同。中西部,南部和东南部的顾问并未报告对预订或取消的增加。
“The largest impact for us comes from the northeast, where they are taking a wait and see [approach],” she said.
推迟预订,而不是取消
Mazza-Burney said travel advisors seeing an impact from omicron are reporting cancellations for the first quarter, but added they’re not “true cancellations.”
“What we’re seeing is a lift and shift. They are not going to travel in Q1 but as soon as they cancel, they’re rebooking for later out.”
It’s the same thing CruiseOne/Dream Vacations franchise owners are seeing, as well as Signature member agencies.
“It’s not really cancellations,” CruiseOne’s Daly said. “When I spoke with our franchise owners, they’re seeing people that are pushing their business maybe another month later.”
“签名成员已经从新的CDC 4级警告中看到了一些取消,” Signature通讯与公共事务董事总经理让·纽曼·格洛克(Jean Newman Glock)说。“但是,由于许多人选择在第三季度和第四季度重新预订,因此该警告的总体影响已减少。”
Travel Hassles, Cruise Cancellations, Itinerary Changes Don’t Help
“A bigger hit to bookings is coming from the取消或1月4日至5日开始驶入的巡航线路行驶的行程更改。”格洛克说。“对于受影响的世界巡游尤其如此。人员配备问题随着员工的隔离而与港口和边界关闭相结合,迫使巡航线做出最后一刻的决定,因为他们适应了这一迅速发展的最新挑战。
How cruisers will respond to these itinerary changes remains to be seen, particularly among high-end cruisers booked on world cruises. But the fear of interrupted travel, of getting stuck at sea with nowhere to go or quarantined in their cabins is what is prompting the softness of Q1 bookings, as well as the rash of rebookings.
格洛克补充说:“旅行者比生病更担心因隔离或改变规则而被困在某个地方。”“对于几乎全部被vaxx又得到增强的巡洋舰,尤其如此。”
马扎·伯尼(Mazza-Burney)说:“人们不想应对麻烦。”“他们想要所付的东西。他们想要他们为之付款的行程……他们宁愿等待,并且知道旅行时,他们会得到预订的东西。”
戴利同意。“我们喜欢认为游轮是目的地,但是面对现实,那些呼叫的港口非常好。他们[巡洋舰]想确保他们可以体验他们。而且,当您听到并看到这个岛不允许[游轮]时,那只是不必要的另一层摩擦。人们希望期待巡游和目的地体验。”
Short Term Impact, Bright Future
One thing all the executives TMR spoke with agreed on is that any impact travel advisors are experiencing now will be short-term.
“Bookings are still coming in,” says Mazza-Burney. “We’re still seeing World Cruise bookings. We’re still seeing luxury and premium market bookings… we’re extremely optimistic about the future for ’22.”
戴利也持这种态度。“我们并不天真where we are right now, but we are super optimistic for where we’re going to be in a month or two from now.”
巡航Planners’ Fee struck just the tiniest bit more cautious tone. “If this gets put behind us in the next three to four weeks, I see us having a pretty good wave season, albeit just a little delayed.”
Avoya’s Hirshan also mentioned a delayed wave season. “I think it [wave season] might be more delayed in terms of the peak and elongated in terms of timing… but as soon as people see the positive news that they want, they’re right back in the game.”
Even with the delay, Hirshan said Avoya is already ahead of last year for the first couple of days of the year in terms of bookings.
“We all hope omicron will be as short-lived as predicted and we can return to the smooth restart of cruising that we have seen over the past months,” said Glock, voicing a sentiment everyone in the cruise industry can agree with.