Travel Counsellors annual cruise sales predicted to exceed £100m for first time

Travel Counsellors is on track to reach £106 million in annual cruise sales by the end of the year, delegates at its first dedicated cruise event heard yesterday (July 8).

A total of 120 agents attended the Cruise Together event in central London alongside suppliers and head office staff to learn how to boost their cruise bookings.

Speaking at the conference, head of commercial Heather Dunning said cruise had seen “constant growth” throughout the year and was “outperforming” general leisure sales, with year-on-year cruise growth tracking above 20% compared to 9% for broader leisure.

Dunning said: “Cruise represents about 14% of our leisure business now and that has continued to grow. Over the last five years, we’ve seen an average increase of 25% compound growth, and we are forecast to hit just over the £100 million mark in sales this year.”

She said the largest levels of year-on-year sales growth had come from premium segments, tracking at 86% in expedition, 48% in luxury and 32% in river, while mainstream cruise sales were up by 12%.

Dunning noted that expedition cruise was an area identified at the beginning of the year where the company was “under-indexing”. In response, the team “put in extra effort” and partnered with the Expedition Cruise Network to bolster agent support.

She said the company had “purposely positioned itself” to tap more into premium and luxury options, noting a "definite product shift" away from the mainstream. She highlighted a 10-percentage-point shift over the last few years, meaning premium and luxury now account for 55% of Travel Counsellors’ cruise sales.

Looking ahead, she said Travel Counsellors “has a lot of ambition” to grow its UK passenger numbers to make up 4% of the wider market, reflecting its existing share for general leisure. Travel Counsellors currently accounts for 1.3% of the UK cruise passenger market, up from 0.8% pre-Covid.

Dunning said: “From a leisure perspective, we have about 4% of the [UK] market, so there is a lot of ambition and area for us to get to that mark [in cruise] and that is what we are hoping to do.”

She revealed 1,300 out of 2,200 total Travel Counsellors agents in the UK were now “actively selling cruise”, which is up by around 300 compared to last year.

Dunning added that among the biggest changes the company had observed was “an increased appetite” from a younger customer base and “an evolution of the family and multi-generational market”. She urged agents in attendance to “explore more” tailor-made cruise packages that cannot be easily replicated by AI or competing agencies to secure higher booking values, repeat business and stronger margins.

Janet Whittingham, cruise partner manager, said there was “a big spotlight on cruise” across the business from an investment perspective, as she outlined goals to get even more of the company’s cohort selling cruise, booking premium sectors and packaging bespoke itineraries.

“There will be eyes on [us] to really push cruise forward in the business,” she said, highlighting ongoing internal developments for the company’s Phenix Cruise and Cruise CoPilot digital tools.

She added: “The cruise industry is offering everything right through to the top end of luxury. It is important to note that while every Travel Counsellor in the room might not want to sell every single product, they can specialise in areas like expedition, yachts or river.”

Whittingham said she was “sure” the Cruise Together event would be repeated as consumer and agent “demand was off the scale”, with tickets selling out within 24 hours and a waitlist in operation.

Dunning concluded: “Cruise is an opportunity for now and we know the growth over the next five to 10 years is going to boom even further.”