It’s the personal touch that continues to bring in new clients and convince them of a specific cruise, be it via recommendations, word-of-mouth referrals and or previous experience with the advisor. Social media and digital marketing are increasingly playing an influential role in lead generation in cruise sales. One in two advisors cited social media as a lead generation channel. Effectiveness of print advertising is dwindling, with only 17% of the advisors citing it as a lead generation channel. | 21 CHART 10 | 21 TRENDS IN THE CRUISE SEGMENT LEAD GENERATION CHANNELS FOR ADVISORS 88% 84% 58% 52% 38% 24% 22% 17% 17% 5% Word of mouth/referrals Current/past clientele Advisor’s personal experience, specialization Social media Digital marketing Leads/referrals from host agency/consortia Affinity groups/clubs Consumer events Print advertising TV/Radio marketing
Emails and phone calls are the more popular communication mediums, with 9 in 10 advi- sors opting for these channels. There’s been a remarkable increase in messaging app usage by travel advisors. 56% of the advisors said that they use these apps to communicate with clients. There’s more agility among advisors in shifting to different forms of communication to meet client needs. 87% of the advisors said that they use messaging apps for communica- tion compared to 67% of the advisors who said they used these in the TMR River Cruise Outlook 2022. 22 | CHART 11 TRENDS IN THE CRUISE SEGMENT MODES OF COMMUNICATION USED BY ADVISORS Emails Phone call Text messaging In person Messaging apps Video call 89% 78% 88% 61% 69% 24% 67% 43% 56% 27% 40% 43% Client side Supplier side