APT & Travelmarvel is reinforcing its trade-first strategy with heightened investment into supporting and educating its agent partners in 2023. The river cruise, small ship, expedition cruise and touring specialist has unveiled plans to host more than 70 agents on fam trips and ship visits in 2023, and is currently recruiting for the newly created role of Sales Executive to elevate the quality of its agent support even further.
FAM TRIPS AND SHIP VISITS
APT & Travelmarvel plans to welcome more than 70 travel agents aboard its fleet in 2023, its largest ever programme of familiarisation trips and ships visits. Getting travel agents aboard is a pivotal part of APT & Travelmarvel’s sales strategy for the year.
“We’re putting some serious investment behind the trade in 2023,” said Brad Bennetts, APT & Travelmarvel’s Head of Sales & Business Development. “Getting agent partners aboard our industry-leading fleet to experience #TheAPTDifference first hand is the best way to increase their knowledge and understanding of our product and outstanding new ships.”
With its 2023 fam and ship visit proposal, APT & Travelmarvel plans to double the number of agents that it hosted in 2019, pre-pandemic, and triple the number that it hosted in 2022. The ships will include Travelmarvel’s three Contemporary River Ships, Polaris, Vega and Capella, which have been receiving five-star Trustpilot ratings throughout their inaugural 2022 season.
The brand will be inviting trade partners to participate in ship visits, but agents wishing to express their interest should email agentclub@aptouring.co.uk.
APT & Travelmarvel is currently recruiting for a newly created Sales Executive to expand its trade sales team.Bennetts has spent the last six months aggressively growing the operator’s agent support team, adding Business Development Managers (BDMs) in the South, Central, and North & Scottish regions, as well as a dedicated resource for Homeworkers.
Once in place, the new Sales Executive will support the brand’s BDMs, organise familiarisation trips and ship visits for the trade, help coordinate events and training, and be a point of contact for agents seeking marketing materials and collateral to grow their sales of APT & Travelmarvel’s award-winning product.
Bennetts said: “Always trade-first, we have made significant investment into the APT & Travelmarvel sales team over the last six months to grow it to its largest ever size. We have seen this make a huge difference to the number of agents that we can reach, and to how effectively we can assist them in growing their cruising and touring business.
“I am excited to be recruiting for another team member who will help us elevate the quality of our agent support even further. The new Sales Executive will help us to become more streamlined, so that our BDMs are able to spend more time on the road and with our trade partners.”
