‘Book cruise early to reap profits’

Nishith Saxena, Founder & Director, Cruise Professionals, says the Indian market has been an integral part of the growth story of almost all the brands they represent. The company, taking part in B2B meetings to interact with trade partners in person and educate them about its product line, advises them to book groups early to make profits.

Nisha Verma

India remains a priority for cruise brands. Endorsing this view, Nishith Saxena, Founder & Director, Cruise Professionals, said, “Each cruise brand’s global strategy has Indian focus and hence we take pride in calling ourselves the ‘Most Diversified Cruise line Representative in India’.”

India story

With India being a vast source market, Saxena shared that it is imperative to use technology to support their various initiatives. “Just to provide you an insight, we have recently concluded a webinar for Princess Cruises, which generated great enthusiasm among the travel fraternity. Next month, we will conduct a webinar for Cunard, where we propose to invite someone from our UK office who possesses tremendous knowledge about the brand.” Saxena added, “We have been participating in several B2B meets where we are meeting trade partners in person and educating them of our product line. Last month it was Lucknow, and this month it was Chandigarh. Several activities are planned in coordination with various tourism boards, which is an exhaustive and fruitful activity for the trade partners.”

Cruise Professionals has put the online booking tool on its website, which is open for travel agents.

Incentives galore

Talking about incentives to trade partners, Saxena said, “Ours is a transparent incentive model where we engage with the agents willing to sign-up for the same. This is productivity based and does not differentiate between agencies.”

Profit building

Saxena has a suggestion for travel agents to earn profit. “Travel agencies must follow a proactive approach, which involves identifying a set of voyages/itineraries, contracting rates with the cruise line in advance and promoting the same voyages in the free-sell period. This way, there is strong probability of the agent making substantial profits.”

Cunard’s 2027 Programme

Cunard has seen an uplift in demand following the launch of its 2027 programme, with a 55 per cent increase in nights booked during the first seven days compared to the same period for the 2026 launch.