U to set sail in six weeks

THE new youth-focussed brand from Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, U by Uniworld, will officially launch tonight, six weeks out from the line’s first sailing in Oct ( TD 02 Aug).

Speaking to Travel Daily, Fiona Dalton, local md U by Uniworld, said the brand was targeting both consumers and travel agents through digital marketing.

“Our philosophy is always to recognise that the agent community is the lifeblood of our business and that anything that we do in the consumer space with our prospective guests is always agent-friendly.”

“As The Travel Corporation is across all its brands, U by Uniworld is completely consumer- focussed and agent-friendly,” Dalton said.

Acknowledging millennials are often early adopters of technology and some may opt to book online, Dalton said many would look to get a second opinion and validate their own research via a travel agent.

“Everyone 10 years ago said that by 2017 millennials wouldn’t require the services of travel agents and that’s just not true.”

U By Uniworld has a social media toolkit available to Australian travel agents and is working on an e-toolkit.

Dalton said Australians were “up there with the American source market”, highlighting the 14-night supercruise itineraries - which combine two back-to- back departures - as particularly popular with Aussie travellers.

The first U by Uniworld cruise will be a “sneak-peek” sailing on

The B on 07 Oct with Dana Brown from Travelmanagers and Zoe Taylor from Peter Milling Travel in Dubbo to be on board after winning a social media comp.

Both The A and The B will then begin their first season on 14 Apr.