That was the optimistic message from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings chief executive Frank del Rio as he spoke via video link at the Clia Conference in Southampton.

“I’m see the travel agent community start to wake up a bit,” he told delegates onboard MSC’s newest ship Virtuosa.

“We’re beginning to see an upsurge in bookings coming in from travel agents.

“We saw more direct bookings for a while but we started to see a return in the US [with travel agents] and now we’re seeing that in the UK.”

Del Rio added that he believed the cruise industry “can’t survive long-term without the agent”.  

“We all need the travel agent community,” he added. “We need our advocates out there.”

It came as Del Rio acknowledged “the trade had been hurt more than the major cruise companies” due to their size.

“In relative terms, they’ve been hurt more than big businesses have,” he added.

However as agents continue to reopen their doors, Del Rio urged the trade to be more open to adopting technology.

“Consumers are used to buying things off the web – travel agents need to be on there too so that customers automatically go to them. Everyone is buying things online now.”

He urged agents to “start with social media” and insisted: “Success breeds success. Get the momentum back.”