It comes as the line seeks to move away from the cruise sector and become recognised more as an expedition operator – as highlighted by its recent decision to pull out of Clia UK and Ireland.
Head of UK sales Anthony Daniels told TTG: “The challenge for us – and agents – is to start thinking about Hurtigruten differently.
“Pulling away from Clia was the biggest statement we could make. We have the greatest respect for Clia, but we felt it created a barrier for us, because we don’t see ourselves as ‘cruise’.”
Daniels admitted that the line had even received complaints from some agents in the past who had had customers disappointed by the Hurtigruten product because they had expected it to be like other cruise ships. “They were expecting a cruise, and that’s not us,” he added. “The name ‘niche’ was created for us.”
He revealed that he wants to now focus on forging new partnerships with expedition specialist agents, in addition to the cruise agents that already work with the line.
“When we go and meet with the big operators and with the consortia, we say that we want to work with agents that can sell expeditions and city breaks. We want the people that sell well; not those that heavily discount. We are looking at how to engage more with agents,” Daniels added.
This includes a new bonus commission offer which comes into force this month, and applies to all bookings – for both 2016 and 2017 as well as 2018 sailings - regardless of when the bookings are made.
“We want those agents that are going to support us, and we want them to earn too. We also want them to focus on promoting different itineraries throughout each of the programmes – it makes better sense for us.”
Hurtigruten will also be launching new online training courses this month, while Daniels revealed plans to increase the number of fam trips it operates. “I want to do Spitsbergen next; show agents our land-based tour, and I’d also love to take agents on an Antarctica trip,” he said.
Agents who have never sold Hurtigruten, but which the line has identified as having “strong potential”, are likely to be invited, Daniels added, as well as the traditional strong sellers for the line.
He admitted however that plans to become the number one expedition company in five years time were ambitious.
“The biggest challenge is getting people in the UK to come back to us,” he conceded, as he said the line needed customers to see Hurtigruten as more than simply a Northern Lights “bucket-list holiday”.
“We want to be the number one expedition company so we have to go to different areas, which is why we have added the Amazon, Canada and Panama Canal to our itineraries.
“We want to boost our customer repeat rate,” Daniels added. “The Northern Lights is just part of something that we do.”
