Ponant to up trade activity further after doubling agent partners
Will PayneFrench expedition cruise line Ponant has announced plans to further increase its activity with the UK travel trade after doubling its trade partners between 2019 and 2022, a move which now sees trade account for two-thirds of the line’s business.
Pre-pandemic, the line worked with 30 agencies in the UK and Ireland, but as of Wednesday (7 September), Ponant now sells through a mixture of 60 independent and homeworking agents across the two regions.
Speaking during the company’s first-ever agent Seminar at Sea onboard Explorer-class vessel Le Champlain on Wednesday (7 September), UK and Ireland marketing and sales manager Nabil Maillard said trade sales now represented 65% of Ponant’s overall business.
"Our aim is not to decrease this but to increase even more," he told delegates. "We rely heavily on you [agents] as you are the experts and we are not that well-known."
The line – which recorded its "best month ever" for sales in the UK and Ireland in June – doubled its business during the first eight months of 2022 compared with the same period in 2019.
"We are on track with our high objectives but we always want more," Maillard added. "We are selling quite a lot of Antarctica but guests are also opting for our Mediterranean sailings."
Maillard also reassured agents that customers would not find better prices booking direct with Ponant. "This has always been the case and this will always be the case," he stated.
The line has so far hosted 15 ship visits and three trade events a month this year, and plans to host more "in the near future". The company also hopes to launch a new podcast series.
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