Speaking during a business update before the Clia RiverView conference, due to be attended by 440 agents, APT’s UK and Europe head of sales Bennetts outlined how the trade can help the operator meet its company-wide growth targets.
Starting next year, APT’s premium brand Travelmarvel will have selected departures on the Douro and Danube ring-fenced from other international markets as part of efforts to grow its UK and Irish business.
In terms of capacity, there will be “a couple of thousand” places on the Danube and around 1,200 on the Douro, Bennetts confirmed. “Having this extra capacity will help us achieve our growth targets,” he told TTG. “We need agents’ support to sell these dedicated departures.
“The business is investing and is dedicated to the UK and Irish market. We’re up where we need to be which is promising. Trade business has increased across retail, homeworkers and OTA channels.
“Having dedicated departures is part of our journey. This will give us fixed inventory and allow us to tailor the cruises for the UK and Irish passengers.”
Tea and coffee will be provided in the cabins on the cruises and the onboard entertainment programme will be aimed at British and Irish passengers, he added.
Bennetts highlighted how the Danube departures covered a stretch of the river where the impact of low or high-water levels is minimal.
“We will offer back-to-back cruises from Passau to Budapest which will reduce the impact of the level of the water and help customers in that respect,” he said.
Bennetts revealed trade sales are up 42% year-on-year and how, in the first five weeks of 2024, APT started working with more than 100 agencies.
“We’re working with more partners than we have ever had before,” added Bennetts. “This is a testament to how hard the team is working.”
Head of product and commercial Angela Waite vowed to increase pricing, added: “Sure, there was a lot of excess capacity on the rivers last year, but we had our best ever year.
“We know that the Australian and Americans were not really travelling. Now we’ve got a new challenge. We want to sell at the right price so that you can get your lovely commissions.”
