Tea party challenge announced for National Cruise Week
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ACE has encouraged cruise travel agents to hold an afternoon tea party during National Cruise Week to become more involved in the sector during the promotional week.
Speaking at ACE’s Cruise Convention on Tuesday, Andy Harmer challenged agents to hold an afternoon tea party up and down the country on 20 September to ensure as many people as possible get on board and talk about cruise and the journeys on offer. He went on to point out that it is an inexpensive promotional opportunity for agents to re-connect with clients and collateral material will be available from ACE for the week.
During the week ACE will also hold an Expedition Cruise Expo in London on 18 September with an opportunity to visit Hapag Lloyd’s luxury expedition vessel the Hanseatic. Plans are also underway to unveil details of its second river cruise expo in November.
In addition, Harmer revealed a new ACE website will be launched this week, which will house all of the ACE training modules. Five modules will be available on the website initially and this will grow to more than 30 within months. The second part of the website is designed to be far more interactive housing blogs and details of journey submitted by clients and agents on their own travel experiences.
ACE’s new website was unveiled at its annual convention in Southampton earlier this week, which saw a record 285 agents in attendance. Peter Shanks , managing director of Cunard line and ACE chairman opened the and explained that with two million British cruisers now in sight, there is a “huge opportunity” for agents to embrace the industry and gain greater skills.
The first day of the conference challenged agents to “Think Differently” in their approach to sales with presentations on the benefits of cruising from home ports; what the luxury cruise sector has to offer; the real explosion and benefits of river cruising; expedition cruising and for the benefit of new sellers, the variety and the inclusivity of the ocean sector.
There were also presentations from a communications expert on vocal skills and how to handle different circumstances and a young entrepreneur who asked agents to ‘Think Differently’ as he described his climb to success despite setbacks and challenged them that anything is possible if you learn to think outside of a square box. Yesterday the conference provided delegates the opportunity to inspect Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth; RCI’s Independence of the Seas; P&O ‘s Adonia and Princess Cruises’ the Grand Princess.
The full day session was targeted at front line cruise sellers. The second stage, Columbus Day, is designed at agency owners and managers and will be held in Birmingham on 20 September.