Top-Producing Virtuoso Member Agencies Earn Budapest to Nuremburg Cruise and Experience River Cruising at its Best

River cruising is one of the fastest growing trends in luxury travel.  As a testament to this trend, leading luxury travel network, Virtuoso®, elected to hold its eighth annual Chairman’s Recognition Event aboard AmaWaterways’ AmaCerto. 

AmaWaterways hosted the group of 133 executives and guests from Virtuoso’s top 60 travel agency members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America and Australia.  The privately chartered weeklong cruise took this elite group of passengers on an excursion down the Danube River, beginning in Budapest, Hungary and ending in Nuremberg, Germany  during November 2012, providing many on board with a chance to experience Europe in an entirely different way.

Four Virtuoso members from Australia were invited guests at  the event: Jan Upton, Allure Travel by CTM; Cher Roscoe, Travelcall; Elizabeth Clarke, Travel Concepts and Roy Merricks, MTA.

“I love Europe and to be able to experience something different with a river cruise at this year’s event was fantastic. It was a great opportunity to get together with the other members and discuss relevant topics.” said Jan Upton, Virtuoso member, Allure Travel by CTM who travelled with group. “Being a Virtuoso member is very important to us, it gives us the opportunity to offer our clients unique and memorable itineraries and experiences, it is wonderful when clients return and can’t wait to tell you how great their trip was.”

“It is our honour to host such an esteemed group, and an opportunity to thank Virtuoso for the support it continues to provide us,” stated Rudi Schreiner, President of AmaWaterways.  “We recognise the importance of the travel agency community and the vital role they play in educating consumers about our products, and ultimately placing their clients on our ships.”

Citing its soon-to-be-released Luxe Report, Virtuoso identified river cruising among the top-five travel trends for 2013, pointing to the network’s own increase of 150 per cent in year-over-year sales with AmaWaterways.  Despite the substantial sales growth, though, only nine per cent of attendees had personally cruised on an AmaWaterways’ ship, offering the majority of those aboard a perfect opportunity to experience the product firsthand. 

“Our Chairman’s Recognition Event celebrates the achievement of our Virtuoso members and provides intimate exposure to new or exotic products and destinations.  Our members are always ahead of the curve, which benefits our host suppliers and destinations, as well as our members’ clients,” said Matthew D. Upchurch, CTC, Chairman and CEO of Virtuoso.  “I expect river cruising sales to soar even higher after these professionals share their enthusiasm for the product with their clients,” he added.

Virtuoso rewards its top producing agencies and advisors as well as its most engaged members with a trip befitting of the upscale travel they typically plan. The itinerary allowed these professionals to experience the genuine flavour and style of the destination.  Virtuoso’s Chairman’s Recognition Event occurs annually in some of the most exciting, colourful and vibrant locales in the world, most recently China (2011), Kenya (2010), Scotland (2009), India (2008), Prague (2007) and Peru (2006) – and now a European river cruise in 2012.