MSC Cruises will welcome more than 2,000 agents on board this year in its “biggest-ever” ship visit programme.
The line has more than 60 visits planned before the end of the year, with events taking place in Southampton, Belfast, Liverpool, Invergordon and Cork.
MSC Virtuosa, MSC Preziosa, MSC Euribia and MSC Poesia will all host agents, who will be taken on a guided tour before having lunch on board.
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Director of sales for the UK and Ireland Steve Williams told Travel Weekly the line has already hosted more than 300 agents since the start of the year, and has seen “brilliant” sales results from those who have been on board.
He said the line is operating a “smarter” model to ensure the “right agents get on the right ships” and is expecting to see strong sales as a result of the programme.
“We are really honing in on people that haven’t seen either any MSC vessel or a particular class of ship, so we’re working a bit smarter to get the right agents on board and then we are measuring the results of their sales afterwards and so far we are seeing brilliant results,” he said.
“It’s a huge investment on our part because there is a big expense associated with ship visits, but we can see the tangible benefit and the return on our investment.