BOSTON -- Cruise & Vacation Shoppes America Ltd., an agency
trade consortium focusing on leisure sales, helped members generate
$50 million in Internet cruise sales since 1995, said Lyle
Petersen, director of the firm's Web division.
He said members have benefitted from Web services that the group
offers to its leisure agents, and some of those products will be on
display at the Travel Weekly Conference 2000, May 3 to 5 in
Chicago.
Key among those products will be SeaNet, which enables agents to
create Web sites and get them running within 15 business days,
Petersen said.
"Cruise Shoppes has taken the position that we are here to help
agencies run their businesses; we are not here to make them run
ours," Petersen said.
SeaNet costs $499 a year, Petersen said, which includes the
one-page site that agents can update themselves.
In addition, the exhibitors will provide information about a
new, multipage version of SeaNet called SeaSearch, due to launch in
June, he said.
SeaSearch will enable consumers to prequalify themselves while
doing research, he said, so that by following a scripted path, they
will have narrowed down their options by the time they get to the
point of contacting the agency.
"At some point, the user has to call for a quote," he said,
adding that although agents are clamoring for an on-line booking
engine, he thinks such a product is premature. "We are working on
it, but statistics are telling us that no one is booking cruises on
line," he said.
Petersen predicted the cruise product is never going to be sold
strictly on line because people will want expert information,
validation and security before plunking down thousands of dollars
and credit card data.
Another product, called SeaBase, offers agents assistance with
assembling and using client profiles, among other features.
Cruise Shoppes representatives on the Travel Weekly Conference
trade show floor will be talking about the future of the
organization as well. The firm was recently acquired by
Canada-based Travelbyus.com, a firm that designs e-commerce sales
and distribution techniques for the industry.
Petersen said the acquisition will bring in more resources to
boost content technology for Cruise Shoppes and thus support the
group's goal of helping member agencies run businesses
independently.
Cruise Shoppes is a consortium of about 400 independently owned
agencies, with Travelbyus bringing in another 2,800 members, he
said.