AE Expeditions welcomed travel agents on board Greg Mortimer last week.

The event – at Portsmouth Harbour – took place prior to the ship’s first Jewels of Coastal UK voyage.

Agents and tour operators were able to tour the ship and speak to the line’s EMEA MD Jos Dewing and other members of the UK team.

Sales executive Karen Hollands also discussed AE Expeditions’ special guest programme, which commenced with Miranda Krestovnikoff, the president of the RSPB and a leading conservationist, joining the Jewels of Coastal UK voyage later in the day.

AE Expeditions ‘growing agent partnerships’

Dewing said: “All of the specialist travel companies who joined us on Greg Mortimer have customers who share AE Expeditions’ passion for exploring unique hidden pockets of the planet.

“AE’s ethos for the preservation and conservation of the natural world is shared among all of our travel partners.

“This was the perfect opportunity for Aurora to showcase the ship and for them to meet some of our expedition crew who are carefully selected for each voyage.

“The UK is a highly successful market for AE Expeditions. With the invaluable help of some of the UK’s leading travel agents and tour operators who specialise in small ship, expeditionary cruising, sales for polar voyages on our ships Greg Mortimer and Sylvia Earle have increased year on year by 124 per cent, alongside a 50 per cent increase in agent partnerships.”

In April, the line appointed Andrew Tait as senior business development manager for the UK and Europe, with responsibility for building industry relationships, establishing new partnerships and identifying opportunities with indirect channels.