Yachts of Seabourn will double its UK passenger numbers this year after an aggressive pricing campaign aimed at raising the profile of the luxury cruiseline.
UK-based EMEA director Andy Magowan is predicting Seabourn will carry 4,000 Britons this year, twice as many as in 2008, following the launch of Seabourn Odyssey in Venice on June 24.
In 2007 the cruiseline carried just 1,500 “seriously hardcore” UK passengers who didn’t really have to be sold anything as they always cruised with Seabourn.
Magowan said: “With a new ship giving us 30% extra capacity, we made a deliberate decision to go out aggressively on price, and target passengers who would normally cruise with P&O Cruises or Cunard, and who would have never considered Seabourn.”
Odyssey is Seabourn’s first ultra-luxury ship in six years. It has capacity for 450 passengers, more than twice as many as each of its three other ships.
It will be followed by two sister ships in 2010 and 2011, costing nearly $1 billion.
Magowan hopes to appoint two or three on-the-road sales people for the UK over the next 18 months, as well as growing the sales and marketing team.
The Seabourn Odyssey launch
- See pics from the Seabourn Odyssesy launch in thetravelhub cruise gallery