The Advantage Travel Partnership has reported that a significant increase in bookings has been recorded by members who engage with its product communities and marketing initiatives.
The numbers engaging with the cruise community under the ‘Latitude’ brand have grown by 50% in the last 12 months, Advantage said, with cruise passengers rising by 150% across the membership over the same period.
The ‘Explorers’ product community, for the adventure and touring sector, has seen a 490% increase in numbers visiting its members hub.
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Advantage chief commercial officer Kelly Cookes (pictured) said: “We encourage all members to engage with our marketing services and product communities which [are] clearly delivering tangible, financial benefits for all those that do, underpinning our strategy of offering members a one-stop-business-hub for all their needs.”
Advantage said its extensive email marketing campaign has generated more than 11,000 bookings for members over the past 12 months.
Outlining the nature and performance of the Latitude product community, the network said membership offers ship visits, an annual cruise conference, increased commercial benefits and incentives, and dedicated marketing.
Advantage members generate a combined turnover of £39 million in the adventure and touring sector, the group said, while members engaging with the ‘Luxury Connoisseur’ community generate luxury travel sales of more than £219 million.
Advantage produces a range of consumer magazines covering all of its community-based programmes and these reportedly led to more than £10 million in bookings for members.
Cookes said: “While we operate a centralised commercial buying strategy to leverage our scale for members, we also have specialists in each product area and sectors who can specifically support members with driving volume.
“By having defined product communities, we can also tailor specific offers, products and services to support members, and this is helping to drive significant incremental sales for them.
“Our marketing offering is best in class and the majority of what we offer in this area is free to our members and [the way] we use this community-based approach to support members with segmenting customer types drives more targeted marketing and is resulting in achieving healthy booking figures.”
Advantage issued the updates on May 16 during the 2024 conference, held in Costa Mujeres.