Cruise Industry Panel Opens Day 2 of Travel MarketPlace West, Expresses Confidence and Support
byLynn Elmhirst/
随着巡航行业在Covid-19爆发的中心受到抨击,该病毒对旅行社区的影响必定会在巡航行业小组中占据主导,该小组开放了温哥华西部旅行市场的第二天。
Ian Patterson, country manager, Canada, of MSC Cruises; Derek Lloyd, national director of sales, Canada, Norwegian Cruise Line; Denella Ri'Chard, senior director, Holland America Line; and Cathy Scott of Victoria’s Departures Travel assembled on stage with Travel Market Report’s Executive Vice President and Publisher Anne Marie Moebes moderating the panel.
为了响起掌声,穆布斯开始讨论,通过在舞台上向邮轮供应商讲话,并代表顾问社区参加会议。“我们与你同在。”她宣称:“我们很抱歉您受到了影响。我们相信您,我们支持您,我们感谢您如此迅速地与代理商社区进行沟通。”
Policy changes support advisors and reassure guests
在过去的几天中,邮轮业的反应已经结合在一起,现在许多邮轮公司制定了类似的政策,使客人可以在登机的48小时内取消,而没有任何风险,也可以保护顾问委员会。
It prompted Lloyd from Norwegian to remind advisors: “The purpose is to prevent cancellations, not encourage them. We need your help. Say to clients, ‘You don't need to cancel. With this cancellation protection, you can wait and see without risk. Don’t cancel yet.’”
“These cancellation policies are really helping us,” confirmed advisor Scott. “We are saying, ‘We know you are concerned, so let’s wait and see. With this, you have peace of mind.’”
听众中的一位顾问担心“如果我们根据这些政策变更出售,然后您结束取消政策。”
来自挪威的劳埃德(Lloyd)的48小时取消政策一直持续到9月30日,他回答:“我们不会从您的下方撕下地毯。我们将其放置在支持代理商的位置。我们将为代理商提供最好的方式。”
Future bookings ‘at an all-time high’
当谈话转向未来的预订时,谈话变得出乎意料地积极和乐观,目前的巡航线激励措施激励旅行者没有被冠状病毒恐慌推迟预订。
Holland America’s Ri’Chard revealed: “We are seeing guests onboard right now who ARE booking future cruises – in fact, bookings onboard are at an all-time high! And advisors get 100% commission on that.”
She advised: “Always tell your clients, especially now, ‘See the onboard cruise consultant.’ We can’t tell you the number of future cruise deposits that go unused. Those are leads for you – don’t miss out on them! We can pull that report and give you those leads. That’s a great thing to do with your time right now.”
来自加拿大的MSC客人现在可以预订未来的加拿大货币邮轮。帕特森说:“我们的预订部与加拿大代理商联系,让他们知道他们的客户将来有未来的巡航信用。”
“人们忘记了他们已经存入了!”NCL的劳埃德大叫。“太多的人最终与另一家代理商一起使用。作为一个小组,旅行顾问需要更好地跟进。现在是时候对每个客户和刚出行的每个客户进行后续过程了。俗话说:“如果您不和他们说话,其他人是。’”
邮轮健康和卫生 - 旅行中最好的?
一位顾问问小组是否正在采取新措施来清洁船只,以便她可以与有关客户分享这些信息。
NCL的劳埃德(Lloyd)指出:“巡航的好处是,我们必须遵循CDC实践。酒店吗?他们关闭了所有拉斯维加斯吗?”
And he listed some of the practices put in place to prevent the spread of the virus – or any sickness – onboard: “We are disinfesting rails. We are serving at buffets instead of people serving themselves. And you cannot escape the ‘washy-washy’ people with the spray bottles at the buffets. The bottom line is that cruise lines go out of their way and are held to a much higher standard than any of the other travel options – or what’s happening in your hometown.”
MSC的帕特森pre-embarkation公关ocess: “We’ve had a pre-boarding questionnaire about fever for years! And thermal scanners. Those are not new.”
Lloyd added that NCL is also checking the passport of every guest for stamps indicating travel to affected areas.
当一位顾问询问更改旅行保险保险范围时,小组成员将他们转介给保险公司,但荷兰美国的Ri’Chard指出:“通过我们的巡航保护保险,我们始终涵盖了Pandemics。因此覆盖范围仍然存在。”
巡航销售的光明未来
“只有3%的加拿大人巡航!”揭示了MSC的帕特森。“这是顾问出售更多巡游的巨大机会。那里有一个巨大的市场。我们所有人都有新的船只出来,这些建筑是基于未来的增长。我们知道我们有需求。”
劳埃德重复说:“这将过去。”“开始思考未来的业务。2021年将是一个很棒的巡游年。”他预测。
帕特森同意:“有一些新的目的地和新的船只可供您的客户(包括今年晚些beplay银行卡时候的新型MSC船)。您有已经预订了48小时保护的乘客,所以请回去再预订。”他建议。
Counteracting negative messages and advisors voicing support
但是,真正使顾问站起来并伸手去拿麦克风的话题是消息传递。
Many expressed frustration about the negative messages and policy they see unfairly targeting cruise travel and wondering why they are not hearing the cruise or the travel industries being more vocal counteracting inaccurate and unfair messages, with one advisor saying, “We’ve got to lead government in the right direction.”
Moebes提醒顾问,这就是为什么通过加拿大旅行社(ACTA)和Clia协会的会员身份积极活跃的原因。她指出,这两个组织都会大声疾呼,并与政府官员进行了会议。
Another advisor asked how she should respond to clients saying to her, “How dare you go against government policy and promote cruises?”
Agency owner Scott noted, “If it’s an advisory, we don’t go against it. But if it’s not an advisory, I’d say go. I’m confident I can wash my hands and be fine.”
That prompted another advisor in the audience to stand up and announce: “It is an actual government advisory in place, and I still say screw them! COVID-19 will be everywhere anyway – everyone just needs to wash their hands.”
His outburst was greeted with enthusiastic applause, prompting other advisors in the room to stand up and announce they had just returned from a cruise or were personally booked on a cruise in the near future – and they were not going to be panicked into canceling.
当另一名顾问站在会议室中的每个人参加解决方案的一部分时,他们感到欢呼:“我们不要使用我们的社交媒体网站,我们的网站来分享Covid-19的新闻。但是,让我们积极利用我们的声音!”
In wrapping up the rousing session, Moebes reminded advisors they can find links to the latest, accurate information about COVID-19, cruise lines’ updated policy pages, andmore here on Travel Market Report.