Royal Caribbean plans to boost its trade engagement having placed its recent focus on more-direct channels of distribution, according to the line’s EMEA vice-president.
In a panel at the 2024 Travel Weekly Future of Travel Conference, Gerard Nolan said Royal Caribbean would “dial up” relations with agents, after a bid to be more “efficient” saw it target sales from direct avenues.
“There was an effort to try and drive efficiency, which pushed us towards a direct strategy,” said Nolan, who replaced Ben Bouldin at the line in August.
“That was my observation from outside the brand, that there was a desire to bring people direct and have that direct relationship with the consumer.”
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Nolan said the line’s proportion of sales through the trade was “very healthy” but could not give an exact percentage for the split between trade and direct when asked.
He told attendees the line would now switch its focus to the trade, saying agents could “help us with our strategy”.
“The longer-term [strategy] will continue to be very supportive of the trade – even more so, in fact – and you can expect to see more from us in that space,” he added.
“The trade give us such insight when we really engage properly and they help us with our strategy.
“That’s what I want to try and dial up and do more with over the coming months.”
In the same panel, TTC Tour Brands EMEA managing director Kelly Jackson stressed “we have an agent-first strategy”
She added: “We have a diverse sales team, with a home-based sales manager looking after home-based agents, on-the-road crew, and a national account manager who manages all accounts from head office.
“Then we have Kelly [Walker] overseeing the team. I think we hit all the sweet spots at the moment.”