Celestyal to move to year-round operations with new Persian Gulf programme
Celestyal has unveiled a new Persian Gulf programme with seven-night sailings on Celestyal Journey starting in November 2024.
Desert Days sailings, which are available to book now, begin from Doha and feature maiden calls to Bahrain, Dubai, Khasab, Sir Bani Yas Island and Abu Dhabi. The first departure is on 9 November.
Chief commercial officer Lee Haslett said the programme represented “a massive opportunity” for UK and Irish agents.
Speaking on a media call on Tuesday (9 January), Haslett said: “We think that the programme is a massive opportunity for travel agents because there’s really strong airlift available [to the UAE]. This is a really strong winter sun destination for Brits.”
Janet Parton, vice-president business development, UK, Europe and Australia, said while the UK is a “very small” part of Celestyal’s business currently, the line hopes to increase sales from this market.
Each year, the line carries around 100,000 passengers from 140 different countries.
“At the moment the UK and Ireland is less than 10% of our business,” she explained. “We want it to be between 15% to 20%. The intention is to escalate that number very quickly and quadruple our growth.”
Parton outlined plans to get “at least 100” agents on board the line’s “refreshed” fleet in 2024.
“The intention is to get as many agents on board our ships as possible,” Parton said. “We really want to showcase our ships to agents and get them on our Greek and eastern Mediterranean programme and our new Persian Gulf programme.”
She added: “One thing that we want to highlight is we do not take travel agent business for granted. We realise that travel agents can work with other cruise lines.
“We want to be really easy to do business with. We understand their wants and needs.”
The line plans to invest Є2.5 million this year in different areas of the business. It wants to double its brand, marketing and communications team with a further six appointments in 2024.
Sebastien Pelisse recently joined as trade marketing executive, UK and Australia.
Anna Gregori, vice-president of brand, marketing, communications and customer journey, said: "It is rare that you get the support to develop a brand that has the heritage of Celestyal.
“We have a clear focus on our mission. We know our audience and we know how to bottle what makes us unique.
“We want to connect our customers to real moments of discovery and ensure our trade partners understand our product."
She added: “We may not be the biggest travel brand, but we aim to offer a wealth of opportunities for agents and be the best to do business with."
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