Tag Archives: travel partners

HX Pushes Marketing Efforts to Source Chinese Guests

Posted on by
Reply

HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) is pushing its marketing efforts in China with a new roadshow that will visit three cities in the country.

According to a statement,, experts from HX’s global headquarters will join the series of events, along with the presidents of the Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) and the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO).

The roadshow is scheduled to take place from Sept. 9 to 13, 2024, with events in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.

“We hope to attract up to 500 travel partners, tourism bureaus, consulates and media guests to our afternoon events in three cities, so we want to ensure that the guests can get a lot of valuable information from the expedition cruise experts from our global headquarters,” said Joe Zou, HX sales director for Mainland China and Southeast Asia.

Zou also highlighted HX’s investment in China, noting that Antarctica expeditions are currently a “hot-selling product” in China.

Each event will include a presentation of HX’s ships and onboard experience, followed by in-depth discussions on topics such as the new company’s destinations for the 2025-26 season and sustainable initiatives.

“The international cruises we have been promoting have been a great success. In the past seasons, we found that Chinese tourists really like this international atmosphere. We have made this unique experience even better by continuously upgrading our ‘China Ready’ program with the headquarters operations department and the expedition team,” Zou added.

As part of the initiative, HX offers Chinese news and movies in its cabins, as well as Chinese dining options.

The company also hired Chinese nationals for its expedition teams, front desks and restaurants, Zou explained.

HX opened a regional sales office in Shanghai and further expanded its APAC division with the appointment of new executives in mid-2023.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s premium all-inclusive fare ‘sparks rise in agent support’

Posted on by
Reply

Image result for norwegian bliss

Norwegian Bliss Topside.

Norwegian Cruise Line has promised to never undercut its travel partners after revealing a surge in smaller agents selling its cruises since the introduction of its premium all-inclusive fare.

Nick Wilkinson, vice-president and managing director UK & Ireland, the Middle East and Africa, hailed the efforts of the trade at a media event for new ship Norwegian Bliss in central London.

He went on to link the last year’s move to premium all-inclusive pricing to a spike in agent support.

He said: “Premium all-inclusive has been an incredible success. It has opened doors to more and more agents feeling confident knowing what they’re selling with Norwegian.

“The [number of smaller agents working with Norwegian] is in double-digit growth. To me that is driving the success that we see in the market place.”

In December, NCL offered a new low-cost Just Cruise fare to run alongside premium all-inclusive to helps its sailings rank higher on online travel agencies’ searches.

He added that premium all-inclusive gave agents “the simplicity” they needed to do their job, before revealing that trade sales make up 85% of NCL’s distribution.

“[Travel agents] are our ambassadors,” he said. “They make the difference. That is why we make sure they are protected. They have a really difficult job. We will never undercut our travel agents. They are our lifeline.”

Explaining NCL’s recent decision to make New York its homeport in 2019/20 rather than a UK port, he told Travel Weekly: “The UK market is the number one market outside the US you have to look at when you are designing deployment from a global perspective.

“You have to look at what your demand is from each of those areas.”

He said it was understandable the UK market wanted “the newest, brightest, biggest” vessel but said, thanks to the Norwegian Edge renovation programme, “all our ships are exceptional”.

The 4,004-passenger ship will sail weekly seven-day Alaska cruises each Saturday from Seattle during its inaugural season.

From November, during its first winter season, the vessel will operate seven-day eastern Caribbean cruises each Saturday from PortMiami.