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Norwegian Cruise Line to withdraw online discount after cutting agents’ commission
Norwegian Cruise Line has committed to removing its 5% online discount from January, when it will cut agents’ base commission down to 10%.
The cruise line claim the move "reinforced its commitment to the UK trade" but agents warned it could back-fire.
Independent agents’ consortia Advantage Travel Centres and The Network Travel Group issued a joint announcement today saying they are to encourage their 1,500 members to switch sell from cruise lines that pay the least commission.
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises are cutting base commission from 15% to 10% in January and Complete Cruise Solution brands P&O Cruises, Carnival and Princess Cruises slashed their commission last year.
NCL vice president and general manager international Francis Riley said its commission cut was part of its plan to ensure fairness, greater price parity, less confusion for customers and an increase in the number of agents selling cruie.
It said it would reward agents with incremental earning opportunities through performance-based incentives.
"By amending our commission rates, we believe this will help bring a stop to the discounting culture that is currently widespread in the UK cruise market," he said. "We hear daily from customers about the confusion and uncertainty of what, where and when to book.
"We believe the revised business model, developed with our trade partners in mind and in discussions with them, is an investment in the future success and earning potential of travel agents.
"Moving to 10% and putting in place policies to police the rebating will help to attract new travel agents to the market who in the past have felt they were unable to compete with the big discounters."
However, leading independent agent Bill Munro of Barrhead Travel said the commission cuts were forcing many agents to ditch cruises to focus on selling long-haul travel. He urged cruise lines to "do a u-turn before they incur the wrath of their distributors".
Riley said NCL would continue to invest in joint marketing funds with travel agents, who he said will remain "the lifeblood of Norwegian".
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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