Speaking to TTG onboard Le Commandant Charcot, the cruise line’s new hybrid-electric Polar exploration ship powered by liquefied natural gas, Herve Bellaiche said he hoped a dedicated UK sales team of three, as well as agent training, would help boost UK sales.

“We don’t have the right market share in the UK,” said Bellaiche, who revealed that 2022 bookings from other countries were “very strong”, up 20% compared with 2020, and that they were on a trajectory to continue that growth. 

He explained that while UK passengers currently make up fewer than 1% of all Ponant passengers, more than 70% of guests onboard its ships are, in fact, English-speaking. 

Bellaiche said: “We have been trying to enter the [UK] market for 10 years. There is an assumption that we have a very French clientele, so we need to change that mentality.”

The line plans to run 20 dedicated English-speaking departures in 2022, which Bellaiche hopes will encourage more UK visitors. There are also plans to increase this number to 30 in 2023.

He added agent webinars would also help change the mindset among the trade, and expressed future hopes to grow the UK sales team further. 

He also revealed plans to develop “a series of fam trips” for UK agents next year.

Bellaiche said new expedition ship Le Commandant Charcot’s sustainable ethos and focus on educating guests through lectures and by having scientists onboard would help “change people’s mindsets” towards the planet and encourage “behavioural change”. 

Ponant, he added, is aiming to “raise the bar of sustainable tourism” in cruise and the wider travel industry.