Virgin Voyages set to launch 'biggest ever' wave campaign

More details on the line’s sales drive, which associate vice-president of sales for UK and Australia Shane Riley said would offer something for both agents and their customers, will be announced in the coming weeks.

Riley, who spoke to TTG onboard Scarlet Lady in the Bahamas on Thursday (2 December), said the line’s focus for trade partners was "helping and reminding them what Virgin Voyages stands for", after 20 months of Covid-enforced restrictions.

"A lot of people have been on furlough for a long time, so it’s our job and responsibility to get them back up to speed," he added.

Virgin Voyages also announced plans to host trade roadshows in partnership with Virgin Atlantic, after it launched its online agent training gold tier package.

"There’s definitely a lot of things in the works, Valiant Lady will be sailing in the UK from March to May, and that’s a unique opportunity again to get some trade onboard," Riley continued.

He said more customers were looking to book twin-centre breaks, added how a "real focus" for the Virgin’s travel companies was in how its brands can work together moving forward.

"From a trade perspective, commercially it’s a stronger proposition when the three brands [Virgin Voyages, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Hotels] are working together, and think it’s also driven by what the trade are expecting," he added.

"They expect to be able to have a conversation with Virgin Voyages and understand how Virgin Atlantic can be part of that and vice versa, and I think coming out of the pandemic it gave us the opportunity to assess our strategy and how we can collaborate and work closer together."