Agent hails Clia Expedition Summit as she lands more than £60k in Antarctica bookings

An agent has praised the impact of Clia’s training programme after making two Antarctica expedition bookings exceeding £60,000 just three days after attending the trade body’s Expedition Summit in Dover.

The bookings were for two couples to go on a 23-night voyage around Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands in November 2027, with three out of the four customers being new-to-cruise.

Each booking came to £33,500 after adding on extensions in Santiago and Buenos Aires.

More: Agent Diary: Escorted Galápagos trip was a life-changing experience

The voyage is with HX Expeditions, which hosted the event with 90 attendees on board its vessel MS Fram on May 8.

Danni Martin, cruise expert with Cruise Kings, said the event was “pivotal” in securing the two bookings by giving her “confidence” and “the language” to talk about expedition destinations and ships.

She said: “Sometimes you need to see a ship to understand the client experience.

“You can join as many webinars or watch videos as are available, but stepping on board, seeing the cabins, speaking to the expedition team – it changed my understanding of the ship itself, and the product.”

In addition, Martin said her “newfound knowledge” through Clia’s Expedition Champions programme proved invaluable and meant she could tailor her recommendations depending on customers’ previous experience of cruising.

She said: “I have real confidence now in selling not just polar regions and Galapagos, but warm-water expedition, and with a wider range of operators.

“Expedition has grown and continues to; there are so many opportunities for us to offer clients something extraordinary.

“It’s been exciting to learn about, but it’s been even better putting it into practice. This year has been a gamechanger for me in converting expedition enquiries.”