Viking Cruises is shaking up the way consumers book cruises, launching its own online travel agent portal.
The tool will give travel agents in Australia and New Zealand direct access to assist with marketing Viking’s river and ocean products.
According to Viking, the tool will allow agents to tap into current offers and promotions, a collection of documents for each Viking destination, an image library of river and ocean images and webinars and other training tools.
It will also host downloadable marketing material such as flyers, brochures, press releases and Facebook tiles
Michelle Black, Managing Director of Viking Cruises Australia and New Zealand, said: “We are excited to launch our agent portal.
“We want to better support our trade network and make it easier and quicker than ever for our valued agents to market and sell our river and ocean cruise product.
“Initial feedback from the agent test group has been positive as it provides agents with all the information they may need, in one reliable and accessible resource,” Black added.
Coinciding with the launch, and as an incentive to register, Viking is offering agents the chance to win an 8-night Chateaux, Rivers and Wine river cruise for two on the 20 October 2018 departure.
Travel Weekly recently sat down with Matt Grimes, Viking Cruises’ Executive Director, Itinerary Development, Nautical & Technical Operations, said the company is against the current trend of cruise ships getting bigger and bigger.
Grimes also said he and the company disagreed with ships becoming as alluring and integral to the experience as the destinations they visit.
Quizzed on what the biggest trends in the cruise industry are, Grimes said the “ever increasing ship size in the mass market, which leads to the ship becoming the destination rather than the destinations themselves.
