Royal Caribbean International’s boss believes it could be a “stunning” Wave sales period for the line if agents can get “staffed-up” and “ready to go”.
President and chief executive Michael Bayley admitted the line was “shocked” by the volume of direct business it attracted at the height of the pandemic.
However, he pointed out people had become comfortable with shopping online over the past 20 months, which caused direct cruise sales to soar ahead of those through agents.
Speaking on the line’s newest vessel Odyssey of the Seas on Sunday, he said: “When we first started up we were shocked by the volume of our direct business coming through.
“We were concerned about the trade channel because it was significantly below what we would expect.
“Naturally, a lot of people with businesses had to close down or slow it down and we’re understood that it would take time for our [agents] partners to reengage and trade.”
He said trade sales were “increasing, up and up” every day and that Royal was “rooting” for agents.
“We want [agents] to get that business back up and firing on all cylinders,” he said. “The sooner the better. Ideally pre-Wave.
“If we can get the entire travel advisory community up and functioning, ready to go, staffed up, it could be a stunning Wave.”
He added that Royal was currently spending more on marketing each month than it ever spent before.
The line’s annual marketing budget is “around $300 million”, said Bayley, who added that it spent around 10% – or $2.5 million – of its normal monthly marketing budget between January and September this year.
“We’re now seeing the results coming through,” he said. “We started to ramp-up several weeks ago – digital, TV, national, local – you name it.
“We’re fully fired-up and it’s starting to turn into a very positive environment – and that will take us through into Wave.”
Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean began a multi-million pound TV campaign, spending twice as much as it invested ahead of its 2019 Wave campaign. EMEA vice president Ben Bouldin said the line had brought Wave forward to November in an attempt to stimulate the market.