Silversea set to boost trade focus

SILVERSEA Cruises is planning to step up its engagement with the Australian travel trade under new regional head Adam Armstrong, placing travel agents at the centre of the luxury line’s growth strategy.

Having last week started in his new role as managing director Australia & New Zealand, Armstrong told CW he would focus on boosting growth and increasing market share.

“I’m really here to drive growth, I’m here to drive more guests,” Armstrong said.

“We want to be a bigger brand, we want to take more market share, especially in the luxury segment,” he said.

“We’ve got new ships coming so we need to fill them and I think we can fill them with a lot more Australians than we currently do.”

The former regional head of Royal Caribbean Cruises said the travel trade was key to Silversea’s distribution.

“The majority of our guests book through a travel agent so I want to maintain that and see if we can do even more in that field,” he said.

“We need the trade to educate consumers at (the luxury end of the market) about why they should come with Silversea.”

Armstrong said a key opportunity would come in Jan when the line’s new flagship Silver Muse arrived in Australia for the first time, providing an opportunity to bring industry partners on board “to see the future of the Silversea brand”.

Silver Muse ( pictured) will also rendezvous in Sydney with Silver Whisper in Feb, the first time two Silversea ships have met in Australian waters.