A new online cruise agency is aiming to recruit experienced sales staff as it eyes significant expansion in 2023.
Destination2cruise is part of Travcorp Holdings and launched last September under the leadership of Mike Graham, former Travel Counsellors global head of sales promotions and Celebrity Cruises strategic account manager.
Sister brands Destination2 and HolidayGems have amassed a 300,000-strong consumer database, which Destination2cruise is aiming to tap into.
Senior cruise development manager Graham, who joined in March 2021, and sales manager Chris Blackwell are aiming to hire at least three more experienced staff to join an existing sales team of eight by the spring.
Graham told Travel Weekly: “People in travel who sell holidays will tell you the most difficult to sell are cruise and ski. Cruise customers want to speak to somebody who has been on a cruise before.”
He added: “The most important thing is to make sure we get the right customers on the right cruise.”
The Chester-based company currently works with more than 30 suppliers, including Princess Cruises, Virgin Voyages, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, A-Rosa River Cruises, Emerald Cruises and Scenic, and Graham is aiming to secure commercial deals with more.
Speaking about the opportunity to market to Travcorp’s database, he said: “These customers are either booking cruises elsewhere or they’ve not had cruise put in front of them before.
“Business is so good that I go to bed at night and I cannot wait until the following morning. We’re looking for a tenfold increase on the business we did in 2022.”
In addition to its core sales team, Destination2cruise is able to use a central “overflow team”, which Graham said enabled it to offer the best service and handle all enquiries.
“I don’t think we’ve lost any bookings, because the overflow team have managed to take the calls that have come through to them,” he added. “I’ve never known a business where everyone comes together so well. We want our sales staff to go that extra mile.”