Australasia cruise investment will continue, Jan Swartz tells WLCL agent summit

Agent pay has almost doubled

She said there is enormous potential for highly motivated cruise sellers and that sales commissions have almost doubled in the past five years.

Majestic Princess docked in Sydney Sunday after a four-night voyage from Auckland via Bay of Islands.

High-powered executive lineup

Swartz led a high-powered team of WLCL executives including Sture Myrmell, president of Carnival Australia and New Zealand and P&O Cruises Australia; Stuart Allison, svp Asia Pacific commercial and operations for Princess Cruises; Deanna Austin, chief commercial officer for Princess Cruises and Carnival plc; and Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line.

Further leading executives on hand were Tony Archbold, senior director sales and marketing Australia and New Zealand for Holland America Line and Seabourn; Rick Meadows, president of Seabourn; Chris Austin, Seabourn’s svp global sales and marketing; David Rousham, vp UK and international development for Cunard; Gordon Ho, chief marketing officer and head of sales for Princess Cruises; Terry Thornton, Carnival Cruise Line’s svp port operations, guest care and international; and Jennifer Vandekreeke, Carnival Cruise Line’s vp Australia and New Zealand.

Swartz said the Summit, which had the theme ‘the next wave,’ was ‘a celebration of cruising.’

She told the almost 200-strong travel agents from Australia and New Zealand they were the company’s most influential travel partners who share its aim to grow the cruise sector in Australasia.

She said although Australia leads the world with a market penetration of nearly 6%, it also means 94% of the population has yet to cruise.

‘That in a nutshell is the scale of our opportunity to work together to achieve further growth,’ she said.

Summit firsts

Swartz also noted: ‘This is the first time we’ve held Summit outside of Australia and we’re delighted to begin in Auckland. It is the first time Summit has extended over four days and it is the first time Summit has included a port of call and where better than New Zealand’s Bay of Islands.’