Expedition cruise operators eye trade sales uplift following Clia showcase

Expedition cruise operators hope this year’s Clia Expedition Showcase will deliver a similar sales uplift to the 2025 edition, which has been credited with strengthening relationships with new-to-expedition agents. 

During a Travel Weekly roundtable in Svalbard last week, Luke Clarke, Swan Hellenic’s senior sales director for the UK, Ireland, India and Africa, described last year’s event as the “best conference” he had attended.

“We now have relationships with a handful of agents who came last year, so it was definitely worthwhile,” he said.

Bernie Carter, Atlas Ocean Voyages’ international sales director, agreed, adding: “A small handful of the agents that we met last year have been quite active.

“This year, it’s a whole new raft of agents – so we’ve got another chance to inspire them to get into expedition and show them it’s not as difficult to sell as they think.”

Andrew Turner, AE Expeditions’ director of sales for EMEA, noted that some of those relationships had translated to large sales.

“We’ve seen a group sale come through of about 17 passengers from one of the agents [who attended] last year,” he said.

Operators agreed that the sales opportunities for agents were strong. Turner said:  “From an expedition point of view, agents could sell four expedition customers and probably make what you would in 50 passengers with another kind of cruise.”

This year’s conference included a new cruise line, HX.

Mark Walter, the line’s sales director for northern Europe, said: “After the split between Hurtigruten and HX, there was desire within the UK business to join Clia. When we spoke to agents, they were endorsing the Clia Expedition Showcase experience, and we thought we needed to engage in this a lot better.”

Craig Upshall, Polar Latitudes Expeditions’ director of retail sales, added that agents would also share peer-to-peer knowledge to boost awareness across the expedition sector.

“Agents learn from each other,” he said. “Most of those attending are probably new to expedition, but there are a couple of agents who sell expedition cruises day in, day out to give their expertise on how to sell a product, how to position it, what are the right questions to ask customers. I think that’s invaluable, and the agents can take advantage of that.”

Later, during a panel session, it was revealed that one agent in the room – Becky Walker of Club Voyages – had made £130,000 in expedition cruise bookings since an Antarctica fam trip with AE Expeditions late last year.

She said: “The initial balance I’d spent on the trip has already come back – I don’t have to do any other enquiries anymore. This pays.”