Cruise Booking Center LLC, LjN8KScHc
By the navigation of 2024, the number of companies in the agency network of the Infoflot cruise center has grown to 10 thousand. There are several reasons for this: the growing public interest in cruises, a high percentage of tourist returns (about 90%) and Infoflot’s record activity in working with agencies: ship screenings, training events and promotional tours, the development of Russia’s first ProCruises cruise training platform and the maintenance of the largest cruise telegram channel for Infoflot agents.
In this article, we publish reviews from some agents from different cities and regions about working with the cruise center and tell them what are the features of this area and how the company helps them earn more.
Sergey Romashkin, General Director of the tour operator “Dolphin”, Moscow.
We have been working with Infoflot for 20 years and constantly participate in presentations and promotional tours, and undergo training on the ProCruises platform to keep up to date with all events. The cruise market is very dynamic, something changes on the ships themselves and in the excursion programs every year, so you always need to keep your finger on the pulse. When you sell hotels, it’s enough to see them once, and you can no longer appear for 5 years. And here the process of learning new things happens all the time!
The share of cruises among all our sales is 5%, and from year to year the growth of interest in cruises increases by 30%. And not only from the side of age-related tourists, who have always been considered the main target audience, but also young people, customers with children. Reservations for 2025 are already actively underway: so far our earliest application has been issued on May 28, and the last one on September 22. Almost all tourists have paid in full, because they trust river cruises as a form of recreation. So seasonal discounts and the availability of a large number of available cabins are an important sales factor.
Natalia Moiseenko, Director of the Malibu Travel travel agency, Minsk
We have been cooperating with Infoflot for many years, but the last 3 years have become especially tight, when we began to actively offer river tours to tourists in Russia. There is a demand for them: if in the pre–crisis period sales were one-piece, now they have grown by 80%. Infoflot is an excellent partner with whom it is convenient to work at the start and not only. He conducts training events and provides a cruise search engine for installation on the site. He has a separate ProCruises platform, where lessons on various topics are collected, and the InfoflotRgo Telegram channel, which greatly simplifies the work of managers. After all, there you can find the main news, answers to your questions and even ready-made posts for social networks. And most importantly, Infoflot often invites agents on cruises and gives them the opportunity to learn how to sell them. After all, only after experiencing the atmosphere and visiting ships of different classes, you can professionally present the product to the client.
It’s easy to sell cruises if you like this type of vacation yourself. Based on experience, I want to say that ships and routes are not the most important thing, the main thing is a great company nearby, a great mood and a desire to discover the world. Even going on a cruise alone, the client will spend it incredibly. New acquaintances, beautiful places, spa treatments, fun or relaxation – the choice is only his!
Olga Klepina, Lead Manager, Kapitan travel agency, Yekaterinburg
Our agency has been specializing in cruise sales and on the market for 15 years, and we have been cooperating with Infoflot for 10 of them. Managers were trained on the ProCruises platform. Even though we have been working with cruises for more than 15 years, there are still moments and subtleties that are forgotten or something new, so regular online training is very convenient. We regularly attend seminars and intensive courses, they are especially relevant and useful in the spring before starting navigation. At these events, we learned about cruise innovations, about the work that was carried out on ships in winter on the eve of the season, about some “chips” of specific cruises.
At the moment, we are seeing increased customer interest in early booking, because it is thanks to him that our tourists can take advantage of the maximum discount and installments.
Nadezhda Maki, Head of the Travel World Agency, Donetsk
We have been working on the market for 15 years, and cruises started selling about 5 years ago. We have been cooperating directly with Infoflot not so long ago, for about a year, but thanks to the company’s training webinars, we have already managed to grow professionally and even earn the award “Excellent Start 2023”, which we were very happy about.
The market coverage for cruises is greater – this is a specific travel product, for which you need to know a lot of nuances. The most difficult thing at the start was to understand the specifics of sales, how to deal with cabins, meals and port charges. For those who are just starting to immerse themselves in this, I want to advise you to try and not worry: the staff of Infoflot is always in touch, they will help and tell you everything. We are also subscribed to the InfoflotPRO telegram channel – we follow new products and promotions. With the help of cruises, we managed to expand the agency offer and attract more sophisticated customers. Plus, it is beneficial from the point of view of the commission, everything suits us.
Maria Shilova, Director of the Atmosphere Agency, St. Petersburg
Cruises are our main specialization, they make up 80% of all sales. Therefore, we try to undergo training and attend all the events held by Infoflot. We have been cooperating with the company since 2021. Inspections of motor ships help most of all in the work. The impetus for our development was the cruise that Infoflot organized for its agents in the fall of 2022.
Compared to last year, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in cruises. It is especially necessary to note the large percentage of returning customers in this segment.
Infoflot provides comprehensive support to partners and shares its knowledge. Since the beginning of the season, inspections of ships and events on board have been constantly carried out. For those who cannot attend them in person, there is the ProCruises training platform, which contains webinars about various products and marketing, and the InfoflotPRO Telegram channel with the main news and profitable offers.
