P&O CRUISES managing director Gwyn Hughes has hit out at operators selling cheap cruises, accusing them of damaging the industry.
Hughes, speaking after a meeting of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Industry Group in London last week, said he was sceptical about Airtours’ bid to enter the four-star cruise market.
He made the comments after Airtours’ head of special products Gary Wardrope accused cruiselines like P&O of having a stuffy and aloof image.
Wardrope claimed that Airtours and Thomson should be given credit for helping to remove that image and for bringing newcomers into the market by offering value-for-money cruises at lower prices.
But Hughes told Travel Weekly:”It is a total misconception. The industry hasn’t been stuffy and aloof for yonks. Things were changing a long time before Airtours came on the scene.”
He claimed that Airtours had stolen market share from Cunard, which at the time operated two and three-star ships, but had not affected P&O’s market.
Hughes attacked Airtours for competing purely on price in the cruise market.
He said:”There is a body of opinion which says that the short-term gain of business by selling purely on price does not support long-term profitability for companies. What it does is attract people to a product because it is cheap, but they do not stay with it. They move on and buy other things which are also cheap.”
Airtours has changed its cruise itineraries for 2000 to compete with UK-based cruiselines. The operator will be offering its first UK cruises out of Southampton to the Norwegian Fjords and the Baltic. It launched its first four-star ship Sunbird last week. The ship will offer passengers butler service on the top cabins.
Hughes said: “The problem that Airtours has is its image is very much a three-star image. It is saddled with a budget name.”