Uniworld Boutique River Cruises has unveiled its biggest-ever trade incentive programme to coincide with the launch of its 2025 European season
The line has launched two new brochures to debut the new collection, accompanied by an agent incentive programme with prizes totalling £50,000. Rewards include trips to Peru, India, Venice and the Rhine.
For the first time, Uniworld is releasing Ultimate European Journeys, a standalone 98-page brochure which brings together its European holidays of ten days or more, in response to a 34% year-on-year increase in UK guests choosing to add a rail or land extension.
The brochure will give increased focus to trips which combine Uniworld’s cruises with land-based hotel stays and train journeys, as well as itineraries which bring together two or more Uniworld cruises.
New itineraries include an 18-day Wine Roads of France and Portugal trip, which pairs the Brilliant Bordeaux with Portugal, Spain & the Douro Valley itineraries, while the 15-day Istanbul to Paris features a rail journey before reaching Paris for a seven-day sailing on the Seine aboard Joie de Vivre.
Rhine, Moselle and Belgium Grand Discovery, meanwhile, offers 15 days on board SS Victoria, the latest addition to Uniworld’s fleet, as it carves its way through the heart of Europe visiting six different countries.
The new brochure comes as Uniworld also launches its main 2025 brochure – The Finest Luxury River Cruises – which brings together its worldwide collection across Europe, India, Egypt, Asia and the Peruvian Amazon.
The brochures launch with a 10% early booking discount valid until 30 September 2024, as well as the £50,000 incentive for agent partners. The top two prizes to India and Peru will be presented to the two agents who secure the most points in a tiered system.
Furthermore, any agent that makes a Uniworld booking will be entered into a draw to win a place on Uniworld’s 10-day Castles Along the Rhine with Lake Lucerne itinerary or the eight-day Venice & the Jewels of the Veneto. The more bookings made, the more entries they receive. The incentive runs from 11 July-15 October 2024.
Uniworld aims to support agents capitalise on growing trends
Chris Townson, MD of Uniworld for the UK and Europe, said: “We want to help our valued agent partners capitalise on the growing trend we’re seeing for longer, more immersive, and more varied travel experiences.
“Our extensions are not just hotel nights tacked onto a cruise. They are carefully curated and fully hosted itineraries offering iconic inclusions – such as seeing Da Vinci’s Last Supper before it opens to the public – and the same levels of luxury that our guests experience on board.”
Earlier this year, Ellen Bettridge, CEO of Uniworld, told Cruise Trade News the river sector is in a “good place to benefit from increasing demand” in the luxury ocean market, with guest numbers predicted to almost double in 2024.