Travel 2 is teaming up with MSC Cruises as part of its plan to bolster its cruise sales and generate more than £10 million in cruise revenue.
Andy Freeth (pictured), managing director of Travel 2, said the operator would have a greater focus on cruise this year, coinciding with the launch of new ships pushing the sector further into the spotlight.
He added that Travel 2’s cruise revenues had grown from about £1 million a couple of years ago to £6 million last year.
“We are looking to focus more on cruise and we have entered into a partnership with MSC Cruises,” said Freeth. “It is a mini joint venture and any fly-cruise packages from regional airports will be sold through us. Last year, we gave cruise a good go.
We want more focus on it this year. I think tightening legislation around Atols means more people want to buy a full package – and we will offer them. We are looking at putting 3,000 passengers on MSC.”
Speaking about the partnership, Giles Hawke, the cruise line’s executive director, said he believed the deal would help put MSC in front of retailers that may not have worked with the line before.
The tie-up between the two brands comes as Hawke said his line’s new experience-based pricing was helping to bring “price integrity” back into the cruise market by ensuring early bookers were never undercut. He claimed that not all lines had the same integrity to push pricing, and pledged that in a lates market, MSC would now discount only its most basic Bella packages.
“Several lines said MSC’s new ships wouldn’t be good for the market but we are improving net yields and getting stronger,” said Hawke.
As Travel 2 looks to drive cruise sales, franchise-based GoCruise reported a record 2014, with a 25% year-on-year rise in bookings.