Tapping into the Niche Cruise Market
by Lawrence Dessler, CTC
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I believe that one of the best choices that you can make is to
select Niche Cruises. To become known as the niche cruise specialist
in your community can help you build a base of business that will
grow year after year and earn you both respect and those commission
dollars that will keep you in business and growing. Niche Cruises
are diverse and as such appeal to a wide audience. There are niche
cruises that journey through the rivers of the U.S. and Europe.
Others discover exotic destinations of the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica
and The Great Barrier Reef. There are cruises that can provide the
unique experience of relaxing under sail while exploring the Greek
Islands or get up-close and personal to the wildlife and wilderness
of Alaska. How about those explorers in your community who want
to discover the fjords of Norway or Chile? In other words, you can
offer a diverse set of destinations and experiences to satisfy many
potential customers in your community.
This market is large and if you make the right decision you could
be in the forefront of this market’s explosive growth. Baby
Boomers whom the travel industry has hyped are looking for something
different. They have been to the traditional travel destinations
and want to experience more during their vacations travels. Tour
passengers want to get to know a destination in depth and do so
on a specialty/niche cruises that can reveal a destination while
enjoying the convenience and value of unpacking once and having
their hotel move them from one point of interest to the next with
knowledgeable guides that make sure that they don’t miss a
thing. Almost twice as many people take escorted tours as take cruises.
Boil this all down and the market is big and getting bigger.
So how do you recognize a potential niche cruise prospect? It is
really not that hard but most agents don’t go far enough.
Qualifying your prospects is not a new concept. Experts have been
constantly speaking about the need to get to know your client and
listen to their interests. The secret to success in selling specialty
cruise products is to take that dialog to one more question. Once
you know when they would like to travel, where they might want to
go and if they would consider a cruise you need to keep going and
ask them what their interests are, what would they like to experience.
Once they start answering these questions their fit to a niche cruise
product will become clear. Interests in the outdoors will point
to the many exploration choices that you will have available. Interests
that include music, photography, food/beverage, boating or even
gardening will provide a clear pointer to a specialty cruise product
that will fit them like a glove. All you have to do is ask that
one additional question.
Promotion is also a key element in creating a successful formula.,
without it nothing happens. You need to start spreading the word
that you are the local expert on niche cruises. Use public relations
tools to inform your local media, write articles on the various
niche cruise types that are available. You will find that travel
editors love to talk about the unique and while they might be resistant
to the normal mass market sun and fun vacation options, they could
embrace an article or information piece on the Caribbean under sail,
the mysteries of the Galapagos or a photographers’ guide to
Alaska. Use these kind of subjects liberally in your newsletter
to past and potential clients and take ownership of the niche in
your community by taking advantage of information that is readily
available to you.
What do you need to do to get on board is simply make a commitment
and signup for some of the training opportunities that will provide
you with the knowledge that will make you an expert. The Niche Cruise
Marketing Alliance provides a certification program which can be
downloaded from our web site (www.nichecruise.com)
or can be taken in a three-hour comprehensive workshop that is offered
at a number of travel industry trade shows, educational seminars
and locations around the country and in Canada. NCMA is an organization
of 12 member cruise lines who work with travel agents to promote
these specialty cruise programs. Companies like Cruise West and
Norwegian Coastal Voyage also provide extensive training programs
of their own.
Once you make the decision and get some training you can really
jump into the profit stream by developing groups. That would be
a great title to my next article. In the meantime get started, make
the decision to specialize and start gaining the knowledge that
you will need to become the expert you can be.
Side Bar
Training Opportunities provided by NCMA
Online: Register and download NCMA’s 2005 Sales Guide on
our web site (www.nichecruise.com).
Training Programs:
March 24-25, 2006. Tour & Cruise Travelworld, Tampa, Florida,
Register by visiting the NCMA web site (www.nichecruise.com).
June 1, 2005. Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada Place. Register
by visiting the NCMA web site (www.nichecruise.com).
September 10-13. The Trade Show- ASTA. Orange Country Convention
Center. More information will be available on the NCMA web site
(www.nichecruise.com).
October 20-21. HomeBased Conference and Trade Show, San Jose California.
More Information will be available on the NCMA web site (www.nichecruise.com).
November 29. Fort Lauderdale Florida, Renaissance Hotel. More information
will be available on the NCMA web site (www.nichecruise.com).
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