Clia UK and Ireland is introducing new river cruise resources as it looks to help agent members boost bookings and revenues from the sector.
Following the introduction of a new portal which brings together all ocean brochures online, Clia is looking to upload all river cruise brochures onto Cruiseexperts.org by Christmas.
Speaking at the annual River Cruise Convention in Amsterdam this weekend, Andy Harmer, director of Clia UK and Ireland, said the increase in river cruise resources was a natural progression for the cruise association.
“We’re introducing new river cruise fact sheets and the first one of these is about which operators sail on each river.
“New resources for 2015 include us uploading river cruise brochures online and that will be live by Christmas. In addition all river ships will be uploaded to our new Meet the Fleet area of the website in February.”
Next year, Clia will also host a River Cruise Masterclass which will be held in London.
Following the success of Clia’s Cruise Week, aimed to get more consumers thinking about taking a cruise, the association will be hosting a river cruise weekend in spring, utilising social media and PR to interact with customers about the sector.
Harmer added: “River Cruise Weekend is a natural progression for us following the success of Cruise Week which saw us reach almost 8 million twitter users.”
Delegates were told that river cruise saw a 22% increase last year, when ocean cruise passengers from the UK grew by just 1.5% in comparison.
The growth in river is despite a drop in numbers travelling in the Nile due to political unrest, and figures revealed that Nile cruises were down by 58%.