Tui River Cruises looks to expand trade distribution

Tui River Cruises aims to further expand the number of agents it works with after establishing new relationships with more than 300 branches and home-based agents in 2025.

The line said it had worked with a total of  737 individual independent partners in the past 12 months and aims to continue to grow its distribution to support product growth.

The company added a second ship, Tui Bahareya, to its Egypt fleet in November and will launch the largest vessel in its European fleet, Tui Aria, in March 2026. Its first new-build ship, Tui Luzia, will be introduced on the Douro in 2027.

Katy Berzins, head of Tui River Cruises, said: “We have got more ships to come, and when we bring in Tui Aria and Tui Luzia, we will have doubled our portfolio of ships from four or five years ago.

“Growth is really important and, to deliver that, we need to work with all those key partners. The trade is very important to us.”

She revealed 11,000 agents had attended in-person or virtual training this year, following the introduction of a specific training role within the line’s sales team 18 months ago.

It also plans to host more agents on board to experience the product, after 18 third-party agents and nine incentive winners attended the naming of Tui Bahareya in Egypt.

Berzins said she felt the brand was going “from strength to strength” and was seeing growing momentum, with sales for Nile cruises performing well due to factors including “pent-up demand”.

Tui River Cruises is also “tapping into a new, slightly younger customer”, particularly for festive cruises.

Berzins said the upcoming wave period would be “really crucial” because it would be the first with the two Egypt ships and Tui Aria on sale. She said the operator was “identifying new rivers” and would expect to expand its portfolio in Asia and Europe in the coming years.

Flexibility and a focus on the British market would continue to be key selling points, she added, with differentiation particularly important as new operators enter the river cruise sector.

“We’re really confident that we’ve still got something unique,” she said.