While other cruise lines pull away from New Zealand, Swan Hellenic is reiterating its commitment to not only sail locally, but to have more agents on board as well, a key move in getting the number of Kiwi guests to increase it says.
Swan Hellenic’s sales director Australia & New Zealand Kirsty Fruin says Aotearoa is a growing market. She also says it is one with a lot of potential.
“The market in New Zealand is very much close to home cruising,” says Fruin. “So many of the mainstream cruise lines in particular have been pulling ships away; from our perspective, we are bringing a brand-new ship into the New Zealand market and we’re committed to having the ship there until at least 2028.”
Chief commercial officer Mario Bounas (pictured) says the expedition cruise line is all about taking guests to the most remote, further afield places, to see what others don’t. “So when we had the opportunity to come into New Zealand, and into the Asia Pacific, we took that opportunity.”
And it’s a move that has well and truly paid off. Bounas says its voyages ex New Zealand are doing ‘really well’, with the Ushuaia to Dunedin Antarctica voyages almost sold out.
“The proof is in the pudding,” he says. “People are interested in discovering more and more about New Zealand; it’s becoming a destination maybe more for the expedition ships, that can get into the smaller, more remote sort of ports.”
. . . Agents Aboard
Fruin says Swan Hellenic will host a ship visit aboard SH Minerva this Mar in Auckland, with a goal of having a lot of Kiwi partners on board.
She points out that the issues facing the Kiwi cruise sector are not about demand, but rather conversion, and the agents having the confidence to sell expeditions.
“I’m a firm believer in getting partners on our ships, that is how we will move the needle essentially,” says Fruin. “Once we get more partners onboard, which is absolutely our goal for the New Zealand market, then we will start to see the business increase.”
Fruin says the cruise line is also committed to quarterly visits to New Zealand, just to keep engagement going. “As it stands, we definitely see it as a key market for us and we see growth there as well.”
