Speaking to TTG, UK and Europe sales director Hayley Moore said having an established on-the-road sales team who know their agency accounts well had helped drive turn-of-year bookings.
The line achieved record volumes and revenue in January, and Moore is now keen to increase “boots on the ground”. “We’re currently a team of 16-17 including me,” explained Moore.
“We’ve got a really established team. This is an area that has been hugely successful for us. Going into the second quarter, we want to expand the team. I’m working to get the right resource in.”
Moore added a revamped OneSource platform would launch in the UK and Ireland in June, and confirmed the new-look agent hub had already been unveiled in the US and Australia.
Within OneSource, Princess will house its new Princess Academy training portal featuring “bite-sized” modules to make it easier for agents to “dip in and out”. “Everyone who completes the training modules will have the chance to apply for a ‘graduation’ cruise too,” she added.
Moore noted how agents have helped shaped the new OneSource platform, adding: “We do truly see agents as our partners. The interface is really easy to use because we want to try and make agents’ lives easier. It will be a complete relaunch – we feel so confident and positive about it.”
Moore expects to host around 3,000 UK and Irish travel agents onboard Princess ships this year through a variety of fam trips, ship visits and graduation cruises.
Agents will be invited to educationals onboard 4,300-passenger Sun Princess, which is due to dock in Southampton on 22 September.
In addition, they can also earn cabins by completing Princess Academy. “There are lots of different ways to get agents onboard,” Moore added.
