Cruise Croatia to recruit for UK BDM as agent bookings soar
Harry KembleCruise Croatia is looking to recruit a business development manager to further support UK agents after its trade bookings hit record levels this year.
The small-ship line, which operates six 36 to 38-passenger vessels in Croatia, is part of Unforgettable Travel Group and wants to hire the BDM before launching its trade portal. The successful applicant will visit agents around the country and report into partnerships manager Pietro Molica Lazzaro.
Graham Carter, Cruise Croatia’s chief commercial officer, told TTG: “It would be good to find someone in the industry who has got some really good contacts.
“We’re focusing a lot more on agents now. We’ve got a partnerships team that is trying everything that it can to support them. We’re also building a portal that is going to go live soon. It will have digital assets which agents can use."
Agent bookings “hit an all-time high” this year following the launch of a dedicated trade team, Cruise Croatia said. Carter added agent bookings in the UK made up around 28% of the line’s overall business, but he hopes to grow that figure to 40-45% by early 2025.
“We’re also doing more fam trips,” Carter continued. “It’s all about educating the trade. We’ve done 20 fam trips this year.
“We don’t offer fam trips at the beginning of the season or the end. I prefer to do fam trips on departures with customers and then agents can see the customers on board so when they talk about the experience, they’re talking about it first-hand.
“If they go on a fam trip at the start or end of the season, they won’t get the full experience.”
’Less people, more intimacy’
In 2024, Cruise Croatia is increasing its programme by 35%, running 144 departures across 10 itineraries.
Carter confirmed there are 14 sales staff in Unforgettable Travel Company’s call centre, nine of whom sell Cruise Croatia’s products.
But he stressed: “We don’t operate a call centre environment. Our sales staff are destinations specialists. They come from Scott Dunn, Audley Travel, and Abercrombie & Kent. I’ve seen cruise selling at other companies and they’re cold calling with a sales script.
"Our sales staff can sell luxury hotels and transfers too. 40% of the packages we sell are cruise and land ones.”
Carter also revealed that he plans to launch a UK trade loyalty scheme where agents can earn “milestone rewards”, such as free cruise nights or Love2shop vouchers, in exchange for Cruise Croatia bookings.
“The more they book with us, the more they earn,” he explained. “The scheme is something that we aim to launch early next year.”
Reflecting on the market, Carter said that small ship and river cruising is having “a boom” period.
“Lots of people who are new to cruise want to try small ship cruising,” he added. “People are looking at it and thinking ‘less people, more intimacy and you can get into the destinations’.
“A lot of people are not aware of small ship cruising and it comes in different forms. There are small ship cruising experiences for 500 people, but with us it is 36 or 38 people on board.”
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Harry Kemble
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