| ALL DISCOVERY CRUISING FOCUSES ON GROWTH IN NORTH AMERICA | | Company held training session to promote cruise lines and increase revenue | | Jovana Arnaut |
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| Vanessa Lee, president, Cruise Strategies, Steve Novello, president, North America, All Discovery Cruising, and guests at last night's training session |
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Last night at Toronto’s Le Meridien King Edward Hotel, All Discovery Cruising held a ‘cruise strategies’ training session for travel agents. The goal was to promote sales of the company’s three cruise lines; Swan Hellenic, Hebridean Island Cruises, and Voyages of Discovery, and to expand its growth in North America.
About two years ago, according to Steve Novello, president, North America, All Discovery Cruising, UK headquarters was considering closing down the North America office due to poor performance. Shaken by the risk, Novello said that the company focused on re-working its strategy.
“We made some pretty big changes,” he said. “We reached out to the travel agent community and [encouraged them] to sell our niche products. Because of that, we’ve almost doubled our revenue in the last two years."
The niche products that Novello mentions are All Discovery’s signature cruise ships.
In the new 2012-2013 brochures, the company outlines the improvements and projects made to its fleet. Swan Hellenic now has more balcony suites, which include en suite facilities such as showers and bathrooms, and new furniture. The ship has also upgraded its lounges, created a wider selection of bars and restaurants, and expanded its deck space.
In celebration of its 25th cruising year, Hebridean Island Cruises has announced its partnership with Sea-Changers, a marine conservation charity in the UK. Guests have the option of donating money to the group when they book their trip, and 100 per cent of the proceeds will go to marine conservation projects.
Voyages of Discovery has introduced 13 new destinations for 2013 including Turku, Finland; Husavik, Iceland; and Valencia, Spain. It has also announced an additional ship that will join its fleet in November 2012. The Voyager, a 550 guest ship, featuring balcony suites, will embark on a ‘grand voyage’ through South America, the Caribbean and Central America on its inaugural journey.
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| Steve Novello, president, North America, All Discovery Cruising |
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Novello said that these changes have significantly helped the North American office and that Canada has played a big role in growing the company’s market.
“We’re almost up to 20 per cent of the total overall passenger base out of North America – we were at four per cent 28 months ago,” Novello said. “Because we’re a British owned cruise line, [and since] there’s a relationship between Canada and the UK, it makes it [easier] to sell our products.”
Novello said that All Discovery’s unique itineraries have also helped with the company’s growth.
“We’re not the same as the typical North American cruise ships,” he said. “Yes, we do Barcelona to Rome, Rome to Athens, but it’s where we stop in the itinerary that differentiates us. [For example], we have a Norwegian cruise that goes up above Norway to the White Sea in Northern Russia – no one goes there. That’s the beauty of our product. People enjoy going on our ships because they want to go to different places - that’s what’s attractive.”
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