Cruise sales power Miles Morgan Travel to best day since February

Owner Miles Morgan told TTG that launches by Saga and Cunard in the past few days helped to fuel the best daily sales for more than six months on Wednesday (30 September).

“Sales have been reasonably consistent and this is a considerable spike,” he said. “The Cunard launch was very good for us and probably a lot of people. Likewise with Saga – that had a big impact on the day.”

Morgan said cruise sales accounted for 80% of business on Wednesday compared with a typical level of 30% to 35%.

“There were a lot of doom mongers saying that cruise would never recover but that’s obviously not the case,” he added.

Morgan also welcomed the new Covid-19 framework to resume cruising in the UK, published on Friday (2 October), as a “positive blueprint”.

The agency chain, which operates around 20 shops in the southwest and south Wales, saw cruise bookings for departures in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“There are reasons for optimism and the encouraging thing is that it shows you can create sales,” added Morgan. “Sales are harder to find and you have to work harder without a doubt.

“You have to stay upbeat and positive – there’s now a feeling that there’s nothing that can be thrown at us that would make it any worse. Hopefully there will be positive news about a vaccine soon as well.”

Morgan said there was currently “very minimal demand” from clients for travel in the next few weeks.

“The Turkey announcement shows that you can work hard for a client and get the rug pulled out from under you,” he added.