The Indian traveller is evolving and wants more experiences

BOTT Desk

What, in your opinion, is the USP of the Cruise Lines that you represent? How important is the Indian market for the Business of your Cruise Ship?

We are distributors in India for the following experiential cruise companies which specialise in their own respective various segments. India market is the latest on every destination’s aspiration list. The Indian traveller is evolving and wants more experiences along with remote beautiful places on this planet. And that is exactly what our cruise liners offers.

Our cruise liners and our mutual USP is that we only promote experience & sustainable products. We focus and offer unique immersive itineraries showcasing travel chronicles and inspiring journeys. Our routes and trips are led by our knowledgeable guides who are local experts on activities, food, history and the culture. Our philosophy revolves around showcasing our destinations by stimulating your senses through exotic smells, delectable tastes and soulful sounds patronising slow travel which will retain amazing memories. From gentle rambles across quaint towns, discovering mesmerising natural wonders, from expeditions cruises to the arctic & polar regions wooing the traveller with experiences such as Northern lights, Midnight Sun, Arctic Circle, North Cape, Wildlife Encounters & Explore Icebergs to sophistication & elegance ships across seas, we have a bounty of cruising itineraries on offer.

What strategies is your company implementing to drive growth in the cruise tourism sector, and how are these strategies adapting to the changing travel trends and customer preferences?

For the past few years, our strategy has been on promoting the Polar regions. The polar regions being remote are best seen on a cruise. Hence, we have been focussing on polar cruise tourism. Post Covid, the customer preferences and bucket list travel are more trending towards sustainable & environment friendly tourism. And all the cruises being offered by our company are active and experiential journeys done in the luxury of a comfortable stay, delectable local gourmet food and highest level of safety. We have launched our B2B portal on 28th April, 2023 where all travel agents can register free on the specially curated portal, which will give access to their exclusive detailed itineraries, free download of unbranded flyers & brochures. Agents will have the ability to White Label with their branding and contact details which means that they can directly send the quotation to their clients. Since this is our B2B vertical, in order to educate our prospective partners & to create awareness about our unique offerings, along with increasing our digital presence, we are participating in various roadshows & are holding small ‘showcases’ in various cities of our country, where we give them in depth knowledge on how to sell these extraordinary journeys.

With a growing market of younger travellers interested in experiential and adventure tourism, how is your company tailoring its offerings to attract and satisfy this demographic?

Holiday Moods Adventures is 26 years young company focussing on adventure & experiential travel; hence all our offerings have always been to this segment of travellers. Post pandemic in this last year we have added on many new experiences to our portfolio, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand & the latest being Antarctica Air Cruise. Keeping safety in mind, we have curated unique activities in every place for the bucket list travellers.This demographic is also responsible and eco conscious travellers hence the exact target group for our products.

The B2B portal offers experiential and adventure travel activities such as self-drive, activities in the Arctic Region such as chasing Northern lights while dog sledding, reindeer sledding, snowmobiling as well as Cruise sailings to Norway, Svalbard, Greenland, Iceland and Antarctica and also. Their offerings also include very exciting products such as Air Cruise Expedition to Antarctica where one avoids the 5 days journey time over the Drake’s passage, World’s first Arctic Train in Norway, MV Quest Arctic Cruise Expedition which showcases polar bears, Whales and a lot of other winter activities, Luxury expedition cruise to Iceland & Greenland.

As the world is increasingly embracing digitalization, what innovative technological features or platforms is your company implementing to enhance customer experiences both pre-cruise and on-board?

It’s the need of the hour to embrace digitization and fast track one’s knowledge. We have empowered ourselves with Artificial Intelligence – the future is this! For e.g gone are the days of live chat where 24×7 human interface was required. We have replaced it with a chatbot with well crafted scripts leading a customer to quickly filter and conclude a request enabling a prompt amazing reply back. Tracking customers’ digital footprints and sending auto reminders leading them back is another example. Virtual Reality tours are the new marketing tools that are amazing travellers. We also conduct Destination Product learning webinars. We have built our presence on social platforms, marketing strategies, brand awareness, communities… the list goes on! We have embraced technology – The only way forward for growth! We have an ERP installed and invested into technology which has increased our productivity.

What steps are being taken by your company to ensure the sustainability of cruise tourism in light of growing environmental concerns?

At Holiday Moods Adventures, our mission is to promote sustainable tourism with exceptional “Handcrafted Experiences, Stories & Adventures Across the Globe”. Our values resonate with protecting the environment, respecting local cultures, benefiting local communities, conserving resources and minimising waste, promoting lesser trodden regions and facilitating life changing experiences for both hosts & the traveller. We strictly promote only sustainable business models.

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