Speaking after the line's 50th anniversary events programme got under way in Strasbourg, UK sales director John Fair revealed the French cruise line had achieved three successive years of "double digit" growth in this market.
Fair told TTG: "In the eight years I've been at CroisiEurope, we have doubled the size of the B2B database. We've got 3,000 agents on our trade Facebook page. We're now interacting with agents on a daily basis.
"Having this extra BDM is about having that experience and more people on deck to reach more agents. My ability to reach people is limited – I can only spend so much time on the M1."
CroisiEurope's UK team currently includes Fair and Gabrielle Alam, who oversees the line's groups and charter business in this country. In addition, Skipton-based agency Bluewater Holidays runs a call centre on behalf of CroisiEurope.
The call centre opened in 2023 to drive Atol-backed package sales. Fair confirmed around 40% of CroisiEurope's UK business is now for Atol packages.
"2025 was a record year for us and we're looking to go past that this year," he continued. "I was brought in to boost communication with the trade. There is always more that we can do. There are always more agents that we can work with.
"We try to be as proactive and positive as we can. At the moment it is a good news all round. The UK market is really strong."
'Slow to recover post-Covid'
Next year, the line will launch the 32-passenger Brazilian Dream ship on the Amazon. "It is almost sold out for 2027 thanks to the French market," Fair revealed. "We've also got a paddle steamer in Northern Europe for the first time.
"River cruise was one of the slower markets to come back after Covid, but we're up year-on-year. We're up on 2026 for 2027 for the same period.
"We've had double digit growth for the last three years. We're now looking for growth beyond that. Groups and charters are a massive market. It is market that we're strong in."
The line will host UK agents who specialise in groups and charter bookings on a fam trip in Africa in June.
