4 2024 53% of advisors said that they sell expedition cruises. 40% of advisors said that they make three or more bookings for expedition cruises in a year. Nearly 80% of advisors said that expedition cruises contributed to up to 10% of their annual gross sales. Out of every 10 advisors, six said that they expected to see a double-digit growth in their expedition cruise sales in 2024. 74% of advisors said that their clients picked an expedition cruise to experience adventure travel. Crossing off a bucket-list destination (69%) and having a wildlife experience (67%) were other top reasons. 71% of advisors said that their clients preferred expedition cruises because of the smaller size of the ship, which meant fewer guests. The average client spends $1,000 a night during an expedition cruise. Six out of 10 advisors said that their recommendations helped the client pick an expedition cruise. Hurtigruten Expeditions (50%), Celebrity Cruises (48%), Lindblad Expeditions (46%) and Viking Expeditions (46%) were the top expedition cruise lines that advisors were planning to sell this year. Lindblad Expeditions, Hurtigruten Expeditions and Viking Expeditions were most popular among US advisors. Hurtigruten Expeditions, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises were most popular among Canadian advisors. Eight out of 10 advisors said that the itinerary was the most important factor for clients while choosing an expedition cruise. Reputation of the cruise line (64%) and an all-inclusive product offering (54%) were the next most important factors. Affinity Groups (88%), Leisure Groups (89%) and Millennials (85%) emerged as the most popular client sections for advisors in 2024. 68% of advisors who sell expedition cruises said that the cost of the cruise was the most challenging aspect of selling expedition cruises. One out of two advisors who currently don’t sell expedition cruises said that they felt that they didn’t have enough expertise to sell an expedition cruise with confidence. Word-of-mouth referrals were the most popular lead generation source for advisors. More than half of the advisors said that social media was an important marketing channel in selling expedition cruises. Over 90% of advisors said that text messaging and phone calls were their preferred modes of communication. The top three messaging apps used by advisors were Facebook Messenger (60%), Zoom (47%) and WhatsApp (47%). FAM Trips were the most in-demand supplier support, with 8 out of 10 advisors saying they would like to experience expedition cruises personally in order to sell them better. Nearly 90% of the advisors said FAM trips were the best training formats for expedition cruises. Virtual training (77%) and in-person conference or trade shows (61%) came next. For expedition cruises, the most favored training programs were product/destination training (74%), ship inspections (64%) and specialization training (52%). KEY FINDINGS