Now you can own a piece of the $4 billion cruise industry — the hottest segment in travel – as it ramps up for even bigger growth. And the cost of entry to this life changing opportunity is remarkably affordable.
Industry Overview
The cruise industry in the United States has grown 68% in the last ten years, and continues to grow at 8% a year.. Now approximately 11 million people book passage on cruise lines, and yet only 20% of American adults have cruised so far, making the opportunity for growth enormous. To keep up with demand, 27 new cruise ships are being built in 2016, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic is preparing to join the industry in 2020.
How to Join the Industry
Fortunately you don’t have to buy a ship, own stock or even rent an office to get in on the financial success of the cruise industry. With a franchise from CruiseOne, you can profit from all the big players in the business including Carnival, Norwegian, and Viking Cruise Lines.
CruiseOne started franchising in 1992, and was purchased by World Travel Holdings in 2006, making CruiseOne part of the world’s largest cruise agency. An additional brand was added to the franchise portfolio with the launch of Dream Vacation in 2016.
Today’s Super Travel Agent
Why become a travel agent in an online do-it-yourself world? While you can book your own flights and hotels for business, travel agents are just as critical as ever, especially if you want a customized vacation, which is what so many people are demanding today. Destination weddings, family reunions, class reunions, industry gatherings, you name it, all such complex events require the services of professional travel agents who can customize the customer’s experience and get them the best rates possible.
“The value of the travel agent in this type of booking environment is still really strong, and the relationship’s very strong with the cruise lines,,” says Ms. Fiorino. “We’re their go-to partner when it comes to wanting to help fill their ships. What most people don’t realize is that a travel agent can get you as good a price as a cruise line, and 99% of the time, better because they usually have their own promotions going on.”
Get started in the booming cruise business with a CruiseOne franchise
Marketing and Support
There’s a tremendous advantage to being part of World Travel Holdings, according to Debbie Fiorino , Senior Vice President of CruiseOne. “We fund over 1 million dollars a year in lead generations, we have over $600,000 in exclusive promotions,” says Ms. Fiorino. “We give our franchisees all the th support they need to run a travel agency business.”
- Travel agency video library
- Free social media program: direct mail marketing
- Complete IT support
- Booking engine called My Cruise Control
- Customer Relationship Management System
- Reservation System
- Financial Reporting Tool
- Support services available 6 days a week
Home Based Model
With the advent of the Internet, the CruiseOne franchisee can work from virtually anywhere, anytime, anyplace. “A lot of the agents I see on Facebook will be doing a ship tour, or sitting by the pool and booking travel all at the same time,” says Fiorino. “It’s very different than when we had retail store everywhere.”
Highly Affordable
Flexibility in lifestyle is only one of the advantages in a CruiseOne franchise. It’s also one of the lower cost entries available in the world of franchising. The initial fee is $9800, but as Fiorino points out, “you can put as little as $3500 down to get started, and we do financing.” We also do discounting, 10% is kind of our diversity brand initiative, which we have going all the time. So it is a really great opportunity for immigrant entrepreneurs, wanting to get their foot in the door, who want to work for themselves.”
Immigrant Advantages
Unlike many franchises, CruiseOne doesn’t offer territorys. In essence, a franchisees territory is his or her personal network, or the one that they build for themselves. The cruise business works on personal referrals, and if you have a unique network, say within an immigrant community, you have a niche that’s hard for someone else to duplicate. “We have some Indian franchisees that focus on the Indian market,” says Fiorino. “The point is, that franchisees can get into markets that the cruise lines will never be able to.”
