Demand for luxury cruising is "off the charts", according to Regent Seven Seas Cruises, with the line already starting looking ahead to its 2024/25 season as customers continue to spend heavily to celebrate milestones they’ve missed owing to the pandemic.
Speaking to TTG on Monday (10 October), UK senior director of sales Paul Beale said the line’s forward bookings were "ahead of the curve" and its 2023 business "looking fantastic".
"We are already looking on to our 2024/25 business and casting our sights even further forward," he said. "We are trying to provide the best trends, and locate the best cruises for our particular market places, and then sharing that information with our travel partners to help boost their business."
It comes after Regent unveiled a new webinar series – Grow Your Regent Business – for its network of UK trade partners, which offers "actionable insights for immediate growth and increased profitability".
Caroline Smith, vice president of global marketing for Regent, said demand for luxury cruising is "currently off the chart". "The one thing guests are not willing to compromise on right now is travel," said Smith. "People have missed special occasions, so they want to travel luxury, they want to upgrade, and they want to travel for longer.
"They’re also spending more as they want to celebrate all of those missed special occasions and that’s something we’re really excited to help them do – as it’s something we do so well."
Smith said Regent has seen three record booking days so far this year, and have had eight overall since 2019. "It shows that trend of growth we are continuing to see," she added
Beale continued: "During the backend of the pandemic, we were seeing some incredible booking figures come through, and then it really has been the luxury end of the market that has held up and been particularly strong.
"We have that luxury expertise, and we want to go and develop our travel partners’ knowledge of the sector by working with them to hone their skills."
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