The world has moved on and we can’t ignore apps, says My Kind of Cruise’s Sefton Monk
We are on the verge of a seismic shift in terms of the way people book cruise holidays. As someone who is under 40 and a cruise devotee – having been on over 20 holidays at sea – this evolution is very welcome.
There is, quite rightly, a huge cruise market for retirees and older customers, and we shouldn’t seek to change that. An escape at sea is a fantastic holiday option and, of course, they appeal to people of all ages.
But for too long, we have made assumptions about who is interested in booking a cruise.
More: New cruise booking app urges lines to woo younger audience
The traditional mechanisms to make a booking have all been in place for some time now. Our customer base will often book via an agent or over the phone, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But the world has moved on and we can’t turn our backs on other potential platforms.
Our lives are dominated by apps and social media, and it’s simply not true to say these can’t play a part in the booking process. The only reason they don’t is because we haven’t utilised them properly and realised their full potential.
It amazed me that, up until recently, there wasn’t an app to make a cruise booking. And yet, our research told us that 60% of Generation Z – loosely, people born from 1995 to 2010 – use an app to explore holiday options.
We’re misjudging the app appetite among older holidaymakers too. Apps are so convenient, why wouldn’t we use them as an extension of our buying habits, no matter what our age is?
Social media is also frequently written off as a lead generation tool. But why? My parents are on Instagram more than I am. Again, our research suggested people are almost as comfortable using social media to find a holiday as they are to follow their friends.
These platforms are perfect for generating enquiries when optimised in the right way, but again we shy away from using them.
In my opinion, younger holidaymakers haven’t been avoiding cruise for the past few years; they simply haven’t had the best options to help try it.
Despite being told the market wasn’t ready, I helped launch the first cruise app last year. Since My Kind of Cruise went live, the results speak for themselves. We’ve had near-constant month-on-month growth, and February 2023 broke all records by some distance.
Having a customised, accessible app in place, backed by a strong social media presence, has been the bedrock of our success.
In fact, our app has already been downloaded over 100,000 times, and has an average booking age of 35. 65% of downloads were generated via social media, the majority through TikTok.
And despite not being on the market for a full year, our repeat booking rate is already at 25%.
Although we have a significant under-40 audience, it’s also clear the app is used across the generations. Our oldest customer to book a sailing to date is 87.
I’d encourage agents to explore all the options out there and enhance their booking and enquiry capability wherever possible. We should never underestimate or write off the traditional means and methods, but now is the time to capitalise on the latent demand that is out there. Because if you don’t, your competitors will.
Make sure you push the boat out and explore all the options and opportunities that are open to you.
More: New cruise booking app urges lines to woo younger audience