There are several factors contributing to the increase of cruise sales. More capacity is available than ever before and the cruise lines continue to build new ships. Larger ships are being built with new features and options available to passengers. Ships are becoming "destinations” as cruise line add new entertainment options, public spaces and cabin types while increasing the number of overall available berths.
While the significant bulk of cruise line passengers have traditionally originated from North America, cruise lines have seen explosive growth in passengers originating from outside North America. These new markets coupled with a robust "repeat customers” base have helped fuel growth as well. Cruise lines have repositioned ships so their homeport is closer to these customers. Many have added new itineraries that include the latest, hottest destinations and some have even modified their onboard service to better serve the needs of these new passengers. The growth of river cruising has added to the increase with smaller ships that access routes not available to ocean cruise liners.
The ease and accessibility of online cruise reservation software today provides many Online Travel Agencies the opportunity to expand their customer base to include cruises. The ability for cruise reservation software to easily handle multiple languages have allowed many travel agents to serve new ethnic markets domestically. The ability to handle multiple currencies have allowed many online travel agencies to expand into new markets internationally.
While online cruise sales have a way to go before reaching the levels of airline reservations or hotel bookings made online, it is no less critical to focus resources to address the inevitable cultural shift from traditional retail to online sales. If you plan to sell cruises today, you need to keep pace with the multiple ways that consumers research and book cruises today. Some cruise booking engine will use responsive technology for greater support of various mobile and tablet screen sizes so their customers can easily view and navigate through the booking process regardless of the type of device they are using. But what will be required to shift your cruise sales online? What tools will you need to automate the booking of cruises and get your customers using this cost effective an efficient channel?
First make sure you include access to the content your clients are looking for. Make your cruise reservation software can localize the content and allow you to control what your clients are offered. Live access to multiple cruise lines with innovative connections that give access to benefits such as group allocations and the ability to sell from multiple price-points in a single category. Ease and accessibility via mobile devices is critical whether your customers start their research and shopping using their mobile device and complete their booking with a travel agent, or research, shop and book online, the application you choose is mobile ready.
Finding cruise reservation software with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach today's mobile consumer with the content they are looking for can be just as important.
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