An education in adventure

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This experience will require a certain sales angle as it’s not a mass-tourism product.

Are your customers bored of plush cruise ships and seeking more adventure? Olav Lühr, the marketing director, Asia & Eastern Europe, for Hurtigruten says the Norwegian cruise line offers a good alternative.

What products will you introduce to the Middle East market?

Hurtigruten is a Norwegian cruise company that has existed for more than 100 years and our main products include daily cruises along the west Norwegian coast from Bergen up to the Russian border town of Kirkenes, Spitsbergen; Greenland cruises in the summer; and Antarctica cruises in the winter.

We will offer daily 11-, six- and five-day cruises along the Norwegian coast all-year-round, eight- to 12-day Greenland cruises in the summer, and 11- to 17-day Antarctica cruises in the winter to the Middle East market. This is the first time we've approached the Middle East Market with these cruise options.

Will you arrange any sightseeing excursions for passengers?

Yes, that's possibly one of the biggest differences between Hurtigruten and other cruise lines. Our clientele will reach the coastline of Norway, Greenland or Antarctica and realise that these are real explorer cruises.

That means we offer a lot of excursions to different areas, by rubber boats in Greenland and Antarctica and along the Norwegian coast.

For example, in six days we have 34 stops - no other cruise has that. For Greenland we have about 15 excursions and the same for the Antarctica region.

What facilities do you have on board the ships?

Our ships are a tool to reach the areas I've talked about. That means that they have bars and a restaurant, but we offer no gambling areas or nightclubs.

Our products are focused on the natural environment and the natives who are living along these different coasts. Our ships are quite small. We hate queuing. People spend all their lives queuing so why should they queue up on a 3000-4000 mega-cruise passenger ship?

We do it the opposite way, not allowing more than 300 passengers on the Greenland and Antarctica expeditions - even though we can handle double - and a maximum of 600 along the Norwegian coast.

We have indoor and outdoor cabins and many are suites, but we also have budget cabins for three to four people.

What's your target market in the Middle East?

We will target the very experienced traveller who has done everything in regards to cruising before. Customers who still like the idea of cruising, but would prefer to have more than just discos and nightclubs.

So we would welcome all ages, but travellers who would like to explore some secluded areas that normal cruise ships don't enter.

We're operating in cold Arctic and Antarctic waters where passengers will be able to experience icebergs, seals, penguins, polar bears and all kinds of nature that they would never see in Mediterranean or Caribbean waters, for example.

How should travel agents be selling these products?

This experience will require a certain sales angle as it's not a mass-tourism product. First-time cruisers will not be happy on our ships because we do not have all the normal cruise highlights on board, so we are very careful and tell our clients exactly what they should expect.

We offer lectures every day before we reach new destinations to let the passengers know what to expect, so it's a completely different set up. It's a learning experience as well.

What kind of relationship do you have with hotels in Norway?

Altogether we have 14 polar equipped vessels and more than 4300 people working for the company, so we are by far the biggest travel concern in Norway. We have good relationships and cooperate with all the big hotel chains in Norway and Scandinavia.

How will you promote your products to the region's travel trade?

I'm researching the market at the moment. We've had some meetings with some well-known tour operators, but haven't decided who we'll be working with yet because this market is very new for me and the product is very new for this market. I would welcome enquiries from anyone interested trade parties.

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