Newly-appointed senior commercial manager Jonny Peat wants to increase the consortium’s Latitude members to 600, urging agents to take advantage of the post-pandemic cruise boom.
Advantage will also double the number of ship visits in 2024, giving all members the opportunity to attend at least once next year and really be able to sell the products.
“In our experience, ship visits make all the difference to members and result in higher sales volumes, so that’s a key focus for us in 2024,” he said on Sunday (19 November) during Latitude’s annual conference.
Peat has announced Advantage will co-host a fam trip for first-time Latitude members while holding an ‘exclusive turn of year cruise briefing’ as well as a raft of regional training days.
“Through all our planned cruise activity for 2024 we are demonstrating how important the cruise sector is to us and the importance we place on the relationships we have with our cruise partners,” said head of commercial John Sullivan.
“With additional dedicated resources and even more focus, we are confident that we’ll capitalise on this booming sector in 2024.”
It comes as Advantage has reported a 150% increase in passenger numbers over the past 12 months, with the ocean and river segments soaring by 166% and 58% respectively. Clia membership has also skyrocketed across the network, reporting a 500% growth compared to 2022.
“Our ambition looking ahead is to continue to grow our share of the market in line with the ever-growing industry capacity,” Sullivan added.
“Over the next five years, there is due to be a further $44 billion invested in new ships alone, so we have lots to aim for, as well as lots of opportunities to develop new products for our members.”
