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Publisher polls travel agents on cruise tragedy
Since travel agents handle the vast majority of cruise bookings, they were turned into crisis managers on behalf of the entire industry during the recent Costa ship tragedy. So what do they think of the incident?
They are aware of the public interest, points out the publisher of magazines aimed at travel agents. He queried 1,500 offline agents, finding there was obvious concern about the Costa sinking because more than one third of cruise bookers contacted their booking person.
Mark Murphy, publisher of Vacation Agent Magazine and CEO of Travalliance, points out that more than two thirds of cruises are booked by agents. His survey found:
—Thirty seven percent of travel agent’s report being contacted by clients booked on 2012 cruises.
—Of those travelers booked on a cruise and who contacted their travel agent, 23 percent expressed a high level of concern or an extremely high level of concern over this incident, while 28 percent expressed some concern.
—Travel agents with clients booked on 2012 sailings estimate that close to 10 percent of these travelers have expressed an interest in canceling their voyage.
—The number one concern, expressed by 34 percent of all travelers who contacted their agent is the safety of cruising in general, while another 5 percent expressed safety in Costa in particular.
—Fifteen percent of those polled wanted to know how they would be protected if something similar happened to them in the future.
—Twenty percent of agents said the incident negatively impacted their bookings during Cruise Wave Month in January, the biggest month of the year for cruises.
—But more than two-thirds, or 68 percent, said it had no noticeable impact.
—Forty two percent of travel agents rate the cruise industry’s response to the Costa Concordia incident as fair to poor; 30 percent rated it as "excellent."
Murphy’s overall conclusion:
"The survey indicates that the consumer is focused on the entire cruise industry and not simply Costa Cruises. "
By David Wilkening
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