Luxury tour operator Scenic Group, which includes Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises, has posted its best trade sales week to date.
Sales through the trade in January 2025 outperformed sales from the same period in 2024 by more than 35%, with the week commencing 27th January being the standout record week for the UK market – sales were over 15% higher than the same week in 2024. The result follows hot on the heels of Scenic Group’s annual UK sales through the trade for 2024 being up 30% on the previous year.
In the UK market, Emerald Cruises’ Caribbean yacht sailings are selling particularly well in the wake of Emerald Sakara starring in two episodes of ‘Susan Calman’s Cruise of a Lifetime’ on Channel 5 in January. Sailing Emerald Cruises’ eight-day Cruising the Leeward Islands itinerary, Susan discovered the smaller islands of the Caribbean on board Emerald Sakara.
UK sales for Scenic and Emerald Cruises’ 2025 river cruise itineraries are up more than 35% on last year’s figures. For Scenic, the eight-day Gems of the Danube has sold particularly well, with three times as many sales as last year. Rhine sailings have proven popular for Emerald Cruises, as sales of the eight-day Majestic Rhine sailing have also more than tripled year on year.
Jonathan Davies, head of sales at Scenic Group UK, said:
“We are thrilled to see such positive results to date. We know that these wouldn’t be possible without the ongoing support from our valued trade partners.
“Our trade sales have increased thanks to engaging with more agents, providing more opportunities for ship visits and equipping our partners with strong offers and marketing collateral for the peaks period. As a thank you to our agent partners, we’ve extended our rewards incentive offering agents £50 in rewards for every 2025 booking they make until the end of February.
“We are thrilled with the positive impact that Emerald Sakara starring in ‘Susan Calman’s Cruise of a Lifetime’ has had on sales of Emerald Cruises’ yacht sailings. Not only has the show driven a notable uptick in traffic to the Emerald Cruises website (500% increase after the first episode), but it has contributed to over three times as many sales as the previous year.
“We also recently introduced low-cost flight options as a direct result of agent feedback last year. This initiative provides our partners and their customers with more flexibility with their cruise holiday choices than ever before.”
