ASTA’s 2nd Annual River Cruise Expo Opens in Budapest
byDori Saltzman/美国人总裁兼首席执行官赞恩·柯比(Zane Kirby)说:“我们知道,尊敬的声誉值得在黄金中的权重,而在我们的业务中享有声誉的最佳方法是扩大您的第一手产品知识并发展个人关系。”Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), kicking off the Society’s 2nd annual River Cruise Expo. “Because you’re here, you’ll be better able to guide, advise, watch over your clients and respond to this growing consumer preference.”
今年有700多名旅行顾问参加了今年的活动,大约有500次参加。在演出期间,通过表演,至少有25%的与会者尚未出售或出售河流巡游。
在为期三天的会议上,与会者可以利用几个教育机会,包括一般会议,教育研讨会,贸易展览和网络。但是,正如柯比在开幕词中所说的那样:“演出的真正明星是船只本身。”
参加旅行顾问将有机会参观来自六个品牌的九艘船,包括Amawaterways,风景秀丽,Avalon Waterways,Viking,Riverside Luxury Cruises和Amadeus,以及两次午餐和两个晚餐。
“It would take you a year-plus to get the knowledge that you’re going to get in four days here,” said Jennifer Halboth, CEO of Riverside Luxury Cruises. The line’s Riverside Mozart is one of the ships participating – and the one most of the advisors TMR spoke with were most eager to tour.
A Growing Sector, But Challenges Remain
During the first of two panels moderated by Travel Market Report’s Anne Marie Moebes, some of the lines’ executives and two river cruise-selling travel advisors discussed why travel advisors need to be selling river cruises, why clients love them, as well as a few challenges facing advisors.
“我们正在以两位数的两位数成长,” Amawaterways的联合创始人兼执行副总裁Kristin Karst谈到整个行业。“这是为什么?这是小型亲密的船只……您将客人的休闲时间加倍,因为正如您看到河流巡游船只在城市中心停靠在城市中心。没有招标。”
“I think there’s three reasons why booking river cruises is so popular with all of us,” said Jeff Coggin, VTA, co-owner of Coggin Travels.
他说,首先是财务,理由是,大多数委员会在航行河巡航时都会检查逗号。
Second, he said, is the ease of booking, comparing booking a river cruise, which often includes air, sometimes transfers, and pre- and/or post-cruise excursions (either complementary or for an extra fee) in the overall fare, with FIT bookings.
“That’s like putting up a Christmas tree. You’ve got to go buy the tree. You’ve got to get the base. You have to put up the lights. You have to plug it in. If I book a river cruise, these folks take care of all of that for me…. Nobody ever books a river cruise and says, ‘man, I worked really hard on that.’”
Third, he said, is customer satisfaction, mentioning that he’s never had a client come back from a river cruise dissatisfied.
然而,在预订河流巡航时仍必须面对的河流邮轮和旅行顾问缺乏意识和错误的看法。
“There is a huge audience of people that are just not familiar with what river cruising has to offer,” said Ken Muskat, referring mostly to ocean cruisers, though it applies to other types of travelers as well. “It’s all of our responsibility to get that message out there.”
“For me, it’s about vision and imagination,” Coggin said. “A lot of the traveling public can’t really envision what the experience of being on a river cruise is like… When you go on FAM trips, you have to share that vision, you have to prime their imagination. Get them to imagine that they’re you on that trip.”
高管的建议
When asked what one thing travel advisors should do that they’re not doing now, the cruise line executives each offered a different tip.
“Use the opportunity for a co-branded website so that all the marketing materials that we are creating for you is in your website,” Karst said.
Avalon Waterways总裁Pam Hoffee说:“充分利用特殊的兴趣巡游,出去找到您社区中的人们,这些人拥有葡萄酒俱乐部,啤酒厂,花园俱乐部并将团体聚集在一起。”
“随访,”马斯卡特说。“因此,我们经常会得到船上的顾问,看到我们的船只并做家务,然后结束。您可以做什么来进行后续行动?分享图片,分享视频……当您的客户回来并跟进他们时,您会听到他们度过的美好时光,询问他们如何与朋友和家人分享。他们如何成为我们行业的拥护者,以及为您推动更多业务。”