Uniworld has reported a 425% surge in January sales year on year for cruises in the exotics regions outside Europe.
The river cruise line also confirmed it had increased the number of cruise and rail departures in 2022 and added a rail-only journey on the Trans-Siberian railway for the first time.
Speaking on a press call, UK & Ireland managing director Chris Townson said most exotics sales were new bookings, with 20% made by past passengers.
“We went into January and said let’s focus on our exotics programme for 2022,” Townson said. “It has taken off. We are making a real marketing effort using standalone brochures.
“They are new bookings for the exotics. About 20% is past passengers, so it’s a surge of new business that’s coming through. We’ve been proactive and that’s why we’ve got these sales.”
Townson suggested the high level of new customers making the bookings could be down to interest from people who had previously booked ocean cruises or land-based tours.
And he said India was performing “exceptionally well”, as was the Mekong, where the line plans to launch a new ship Mekong Jewel in September.
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Uniworld expands cruise and rail programme in 2022
Townson also reported strong sales in Egypt, where Uniworld’s ‘super ship’ Sphinx is scheduled to launch in September, and Peru and Amazon sailings, where the line has its Aria Amazon vessel.
Explaining the sales spike, Townson pointed to the age range of Uniworld’s customer base and a rise in confidence among consumers since the vaccine rollout began.
He said: “When you look at the customer base – 65-plus. They did not travel long-haul in 2020. They’re getting older. We’ve seen this trend before. I saw this with the global [economic] crash [in 2008].
“Then they held back because they saw their pensions going down but as soon as they got their confidence back with the economy, they came back too. The over 70s have been jabbed and the 65-plus passengers will be soon.
“We’re talking about the UK, but we’re seeing similar scenarios in the US. We’re seeing significant booking volumes in the US. They’re going through a similar flow of vaccines in that market too. Throughout the whole of January, we saw the exotics going off.”
The line will offer a 15-day rail-only tour from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian Railway in 2022 for the first time alongside three cruise and rail itineraries.
Uniworld customers will occupy a carriage on a Golden Eagle train. “It is Uniworld on the rails,” Townson said.