Speaking exclusively to TTG, David Tanguay championed the efforts of the UK-based sales team, which includes senior business development managers Katie Harber and Andy Tait, before saying: “We do see the [UK and Irish market] growing over the next few years.”
Earlier this month, former Intrepid’s head of B2B sales Andrew Turner started his EMEA sales director role at AE Expeditions.
Turner’s hire and increased AE Expeditions’ support for a growing number of agents wanting to sell expedition cruise mean Tanguay is hopeful this market came become a major one for the line.
“The UK and Irish market is currently among our top five markets,” Tanguay said. “It is an important source market for us. We’re seeing the number of new agents here growing. Our objective is to support our new agents in the UK and Ireland.”
Tanguay confirmed AE Expeditions sales in the UK and Irish market came “predominantly” via agents.
“For us, what is most important is provide as much trade support as possible and that we’re easy to do business with,” said Tanguay, adding: “It’s all about helping agents sell AE Expeditions.”
When asked about Turner’s role, which he began on 8 April, Tanguay said: “Andrew’s primary objective is to increase the number of trade partners we work with. There are a lot of agents that want to promote expedition cruising. We want to educate these agents so that they understand the key differences [between the lines].
“It’s about providing the right level of education. Expedition cruising is the fastest growing sector in the cruise industry – and it’s becoming a lot more competitive.”
Douglas Mawson deployment
To stand out in the market, the Australian-owned line has made some changes to its product and destination offering following the announcement that it would launch 154-passenger Douglas Mawson in December 2025.
“We continue to do things in our own way,” Tanguay said. “We’re bringing Douglas Mawson into different parts of Antarctica.
“That is exciting because the core majority of passengers go to South Georgia, the Falklands or the peninsula of Antarctica, but trade partners say they want to go to new places.”
In addition, AE Expedition is including activities such as camping, kayaking, snowshoeing and snorkelling people into the cruise fare on selected voyages, whereas before passengers would incur an additional cost.
Douglas Mawson will be able to carry slightly more passengers than AE Expeditions’ existing 132-passenger vessels – Sylvia Earle and Greg Mortimer.
Douglas Mawson, Tanguay said, will feature different cabin types including “several” solo cabins. “Solo travel is growing in this industry,” explained Tanguay. “We’re really excited to welcome more solo travellers onto our ships.”
