Riviera Travel aims to change agents’ perception of brand

Riviera Travel is aiming to change agents’ perception of its brand to encourage trade partners to view it as “more than just a river cruise operator”.

Head of trade Tom Morgan told Travel Weekly he wants to boost sales of the operator’s European and long-haul touring, which accounted for 31% and 10% of its January sales, respectively, with the rest attributed to river cruise sales.

He said that while river cruise is a substantial part of its offering, he wants to reposition the operator in agents’ minds so they are as likely to think of it when they are selling a river cruise as they are when booking a tour.

“The perception from travel agents is that we are a river cruise line that does a bit of touring, but in reality we are a touring company that does river cruise,” said Morgan.

“We’ve promoted river cruise more than our other products through the trade so I’m aware that that’s the reason why we sell so much more of it, but where we see our growth over the short to medium-term is in maintaining our position in river cruise while increasing our long-haul sales.

“We need to make people more aware of the breadth of products that we offer, which includes classic, signature and solo tours to both European and long-haul destinations as well as river cruise.”

Morgan went on to say he would be happy for the ratio of products sold to remain the same, but wants more sales across all holiday types.

“I’m absolutely happy for long-haul tours to remain at 10% of the business as I’m quite comfortable with the mix – I just want more of everything,” he said.