Royal Caribbean International will offer “money-can’t-buy” opportunities for agents to win VIP tickets to the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals and final in Malmo, Sweden, in May, as it looks to capitalise on its sponsorship of the iconic competition.
The line’s vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Ben Bouldin, said it would also enable agent partners to hold their own Eurovision parties to mark the occasion as well as facilitate other Eurovision-themed trade activations throughout the next five months.
Speaking just 24 hours after the news was announced that Royal Caribbean would partner with Eurovision for two years, Bouldin also revealed that Royal will operate four sailings in Europe that will be Eurovision-themed, holding Eurovision parties on board, and will announce charters to join the ships down the line.
He described the tie-up as an “astonishingly good partnership that will help us reach audiences we haven’t talked to before”, and revealed that a teaser advert, run last week by Eurovision, hinting that the Caribbean was coming to the competition, got 1.2 million views and more than 50,000 likes.
Royal’s actual reveal on Thursday generated more than 405,000 views and 15,000 likes in the space of hours.
“The coverage has already been phenomenal,” Bouldin told Travel Weekly.
“We have been really pleased with the reaction so far. Eurovision is immensely popular across all of the key markets I look after and presents us with an incredible opportunity to engage with new audiences in all of them.
“It’s a natural fit for us – we’re all about entertainment, diversity and fun and so is Eurovision. It’s a really good reflection of our holidays,” he said, adding that he was excited about the UK’s chances since it was announced that actor and lead singer of the band Years & Years, Olly Alexander, would be representing the nation.
“Sam Ryder was a really credible, brilliant contestant in 2022 and Olly Alexander is a great choice for our 2024 bid,” he said.
Bouldin pointed out the partnership also gave the line reach into Australia which has been part of Eurovision since 2015, and said: “Even in the US, this announcement seems to have unearthed many closet Eurovision fans too. It’s really taken the US by surprise.”
The Eurovision announcement hit as Bouldin said Royal was already experiencing a significantly stronger first week to the year, compared to this time last year.
“Demand this week is greater than in 2023, even further ahead of 2022 and well ahead of 2019. Demand for us is measured by number of enquiries, and bookings follow,” he said.