Top cruise lines revealed

AUSTRALIA’S travel agents have rated the best performing cruise lines and highlighted key threats to their business in

Cruise Weekly’s exclusive Cruise Industry Survey for 2017.

The results confirm agents are reaping the benefits of a booming cruise sector, but feel increasingly threatened by offshore retailers stealing business online.

Compiled by Stollznow Research for Cruise Weekly, the findings have been gathered from 350 travel agent responses.

They show cruise sales have increased for 83% of travel agents in the past 12 months, with over half of agents saying growth has come at the expense of domestic tourism and coach touring.

Royal Caribbean International took the lead as the most commonly sold operator, booked by 82.2% of respondents.

The line narrowly overtook last year’s leader Princess Cruises at 81.9%, and was ahead of other majors including P&O Cruises (75%), Carnival Cruise Lines (65%), Celebrity Cruises (60%), Holland America Line (59%) and Norwegian Cruise Line (42%).

Most agents said they feared losing sales to overseas retailers, with 30% saying the risk was ‘extreme’, up from 24% last year.

Almost half (49%) said they had lost sales to overseas retailers, with a further 13% reporting they had lost “a lot” of sales offshore.

A majority were also concerned about direct sales, with 53% saying they had lost some sales to direct channels and 17% saying they lost “a lot”.

Agents named on board credit and fly free deals as the best incentives for clinching sales. More details will follow in CW. To enquire about the full report, CLICK HERE.