Tongcheng enters partnership in China with major cruise lines

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: More News More News

Published: 17 July 2015 17 July 2015

After the recent announcement of a RMB100 million investment to promote its cruise business, Tongcheng, a Chinese travel service giant, has entered strategic cooperation agreements with Costa Crociere and Royal Caribbean Cruises to jointly develop cruise business in China. Alan Lam reports.

Founded in 2004, Tongcheng Network Technology Share Co., Ltd. (同程网络科技股份有限公司), the Suzhou-based company - with the main business focuses on hotel booking, air ticketing, car rental and cruise booking - has been in expansion and partnership mode in recent years.

In the last few days, the company has signed separate cooperation agreements with Costa Crociere and Royal Caribbean Cruises to explore the possibilities of promoting cruise itineraries from China to other Asian destinations. The agreements have special emphasis aiming at ships homeporting in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin.

These partnerships signal the increasing attention from the Chinese travel service sector to cruise tourism. Tongcheng’s specialism in air ticketing and hotel booking will no doubt be beneficiary to developing fly-cruise business in China.

The company has also a similar arrangement with SkySea Cruises, a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Ctrip International.

In 2014 Ctrip became the second biggest shareholder of Tongcheng.

Azamara launches Azamara World Academy

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: More News More News

Published: 16 July 2015 16 July 2015

Azamara Club Cruises announces the launch of its new travel partner tutorial, the Azamara World Academy. The program provides easy-to-follow courses for travel professionals to learn about the brand and its offerings onboard and on shore through its Land Discoveries shore excursions.

The tutorial features 11 short courses that can be completed in approximately four hours covering the following topics:

– Azamara Club Cruises Overview
– Destination Immersion
– Destinations
– Onboard Life
– Dining & Wines
– Spa & Fitness
– Accommodations
– Onboard Sales
– Selling Tips
– CruisingPower.com
– What You Need to Know Before You Go

In addition to providing educational services, Azamara World Academy makes valuable tools available for travel partners including videos, commercials, virtual ship tours and a special “what’s new” section to showcase the latest developments.

Travel partners gain knowledge from engaging in the Azamara World Academy to confidently immerse their clients in the brand as well as added incentives for completing the program. Partners receive a high quality certificate upon completion and a branded coaster for their desk. Additionally they can earn a complimentary double-occupancy Club Oceanview Stateroom when they book three Azamara Cruises within 90-days of completing Azamara World Academy. To learn more about Azamara World Academy or to register for the courses, please visit www.AzamaraWorldAcademy.com or www.CruisingPower.com.

Carnival further enhances travel agent engagement with formation of new trade events team

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: More News More News

Published: 16 July 2015 16 July 2015

Carnival Cruise Line is further enhancing its commitment to travel agent engagement by expanding its trade sales and marketing team to include a dedicated events team within the organization.

The formation of the new trade events team will significantly expand the line’s presence at cruise industry tradeshows, conferences, agent trainings and recognition events.

“Our sales team is on track to reach 40,000 travel agents through Carnival Conversations and other industry events by the end of the year,” said Carnival’s Vice President of Trade Sales and Marketing Adolfo Perez. “By creating a team dedicated to trade events and programs, we’re further bolstering our already strong presence at these types of agent events and engaging with thousands of agents each year.”

To lead this new effort, Carnival has named Mia Landrin as trade events and programs manager, responsible for overseeing the line’s expanded agent interaction.  Landrin reports to Meegan Broussard, Carnival’s director of trade marketing and sales communications.

An accomplished events and marketing specialist, Landrin brings more than 15 years of event experience to her new role and has led highly visible initiatives including NASCAR sponsorships and brand-building opportunities for M&M’s/Mars Inc. as well as cause-related marketing for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. Most recently, she served as Carnival’s brand manager for youth activities, responsible for developing and programming activities for the line’s on-board teen program.

For additional information regarding Carnival’s trade events, travel agents may visit GoCCL.com.

Meyer Werft invests EUR 10 million in new development centre in Papenburg

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: More News More News

Published: 15 July 2015 15 July 2015

Meyer Werft once again invests in a future project at the Papenburg shipyard. Due to the continually increasing number of employees and the very good order book of the shipyard, the decision has now been taken to build a new technology and development centre. In the new building complex, large parts of the design and development work is bundled for the new, complex new ships under construction. In future, a total of about 400 designers and engineers can work on the great variety of subject areas involved in cruise ships.

The new building will offer a surface area of about 5,500 m² on four floors. The overall investment amount is about 10 million euros and contains state-of-the-art building control techniques and energy-saving measures, e.g. the use of geothermal heating and cooling. The construction is to be concluded by the beginning of 2016.

CEO Bernard Meyer says: "We are convinced that we can only remain successful in future if our employees can pursue their exacting work under good working conditions. This is a great wish of our committed and highly-motivated employees."

In addition to this, the shipyard will adjust the areas for the recreation rooms and the canteen areas so as to satisfy the increased requirements.

In the past twelve years the shipyard has already massively invested in the shipyard premise location and in new technologies (laser welding, robot technology, assembly lines and flow lines as well as CAD-Software, etc.): apart from the extension of the second dry dock (2008), the laser centre was expanded and modernised in 2008 and 2011, and a state-of-the-art pipe centre was created. In total, more than 550 million euros were invested in the past years.

Currently, more than 3,300 directly employed persons in Papenburg are building state-of-the-art, sea-going cruise ships. ln Rostock, about 500 directly employed persons are, for the largest part, building river-cruise ships and other special ships. In Finland, about 1,350 directly employed persons are currently working on new cruise ships and ferries.