Cosmos is launching its own new river cruise programme, offering 3- to 4-star cruises, which will be on sale to agents from the end of November, TTG can reveal.
The tour operator has partnered with Swiss operator Thurgau Travel to offer the cruises, which will be exclusive to the UK market, but will also have international guests, predominantly from Switzerland.
The new programme will offer sailings on the Douro and Moselle, and between Moscow and St Petersburg. It will also offer small-ship coastal cruising off Croatia.
Lead-in prices will start from £299, with the programme set to go on sale from around 28 November.
Cosmos chief executive Giles Hawke told TTG the new programme had “come about off the back of the pandemic” but insisted it would not be a competitor to sister brand Avalon Waterways.
“We know that when the market is booming we struggle to get space on our Avalon ships because they are also sold internationally.
“This new product offers a different price point to Avalon, but will still have the high quality. It’s not designed to be a competitor, but a complementary product to what we already sell.”
Hawke said that Thurgau Travel was “a family-owned business with the same ethos as Avalon”.
“We’re doing this as part of Cosmos’s global approach,” he added. “Our goal is to grow river cruise as a sector, and we hope the price point will be really attractive to agents, who we think will find it easy to sell.”