UPDATE: Jan Swartz of Princess Cruises and Cunard Line says she was misquoted in the original Travel Market report story. See her comment below this post.
However, Travel Market Report stands by its story and says Swartz was not misquoted.
The original Tnooz story follows:
Do you want to know why Princess Cruises and Cunard Line engage in so much consumer-direct marketing?
One factor, according to a top marketing executive for the lines, is because traditional travel agents don't drive demand for these Carnival Corp. brands and tend to act as "reactive booking services."
That perspective comes from a Travel Market Report story citing the views of Jan Swartz, executive vice president of sales, marketing and customer service, for the two cruise lines.
The story relates Swartz's views that the cruise lines would do less direct selling to consumers if only travel agents would spend "more time on proactively selling and marketing our cruises," particularly to first-time cruisers.
The cruise lines and travel agents could find a "middle ground" if travel agents would reevaluate their priorities, work harder and "shift their time to the marketing activities that help us drive demand and sell our ships at higher yields," Swartz says.
Not surprisingly, some travel agents have taken exception to Swartz's views.
Travel agent Jill Love of BuyCruises.com, for example, says the Travel Market Report headline, "What Cruise Lines Want: You Drive Demand," first made her laugh, but eventually she got annoyed.
Love was particularly miffed at Swartz's criticisms of how cruise agents allocate their time.
"What travel agents offer is customer service and this article is basically saying that we shouldn't be investing so much time into service," Love says. "Clients do call, they want service. The reason the cruise lines get so much business from the travel agent community is because of our personalized customer service, which grows our repeat and referral business."
"And that referral client can many times be that first time cruiser," Love adds.
Other agents commented below the Travel Market Report article, slamming the cruise lines for low commissions and undervaluing travel agents.
But, Brian Major, a public relations professional and an executive editor at Performance Media Group, believes agents should be more realistic about cruise line direct marketing and agrees with some of Swartz's view.
"I agree, cruise-selling travel agents -- and cruise lines -- can be more successful if agents focus on driving demand," Major says. "But it'd be foolish for agents to think cruise lines will not market directly in the electronic age. I do believe there's room for both channels to experience success in the marketplace. In fact for agents, there must be."
Major adds: "Yet because of several factors, cruise sales are less profitable than in previous years. So, it does stand to reason agents should place their emphasis on generating new clients."
In recent years, Carnival Corp. brands have been involved in more direct marketing to consumers and fulfillment through their websites and call centers, but the vast majority of their bookings come through the travel agency channel.