AUSTRALIAN travel agents have given mixed views on the importance of environmental issues in the cruise industry, with a quarter saying sustainability is not important to their clients.
This year’s Travel Daily/Cruise Weekly cruise industry survey included new questions on issues of sustainability, which showed only 19% of respondents consider environmental matters to be extremely or very important to their customers.
The biggest portion, representing 39%, say the environment is only moderately important, with 17% rating it as slightly important and 25% saying it is not important at all.
The survey also asked agents about the hot topic of over-tourism, drawing a similarly mixed response.
When asked whether the issue of overtourism was an inhibitor to new sales, 45% said no.
About 27% said yes, but the largest portion of respondents, 45%, said they were unsure.
Other aspects of the survey asked agents to rate the added extras most likely to drive sales for a cruise line.
The most effective extra was an on-board credit, named by 79% of respondents, followed by fly free deals (72%), single supplement waivers (67%), beverage credits (62%) and earlybird offers (61%).
Agents also rated cruise lines for their training and development programs, with Princess Cruises considered best, followed by APT, P&O Cruises Australia and Scenic.
In a new question, agents also rated Princess Cruises best for its insightful webinars, followed by APT, Scenic and Crystal Cruises.
U by Uniworld was top for training among river cruise lines.
See more in Cruise Weekly, or for a full copy of the report, email research@traveldaily.com.au.
Source: traveldaily