How (and why) Scenic goes beyond cruises with luxury land tours

Australia’s Scenic, long known for its luxury river and ocean cruises, recently changed its name to Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours, expanding its land tour offering in an effort to increase its market share.

With such strong customer loyalty, offering more choice to the same base of frequent travelers can help grow the business as well as expand the overall traveler portfolio. Among U.S. customers this year alone, the brand said, 24% of repeat travelers took river cruises and 37% repeated ocean cruises. And that’s for a company that has no problem filling its ships with Australian customers from its home market.

According to Scenic executives, by the end of the year, 34% of visitors are expected to return to rivers and 53% will return to ocean cruises from the US.

This type of loyalty not only attracts more guests, but also attracts the attention of experts in the cruise industry.

“This move is interesting, but also makes sense as a way to grow the brand beyond just adding ships to their fleet.”

Journalist Jeri Clausing says she is amazed that small-ship luxury cruises are capturing the same high-end market as luxury tour operators.

“The move is interesting, but it also makes sense as a way to grow the brand beyond just adding ships to their fleet,” says Clausing, a journalist who has covered luxury travel and small cruises for more than 15 years. “There are many coincidences cruise ship and tours, both in products and in the demographic of travelers seeking intimate, escorted travel.”

She notes that river cruise lines are already tour operators in a sense, setting itineraries and developing daily shore excursions, and some, such as Uniworld and Avalon Waterways, have subsidiaries that are also tour operators.

“On the other hand, Abercrombie & Kent and Tauck have long offered small sea and river cruises through charters and part-charters of vessels from other operators,” Clausing adds. “And A&K is really expanding the cruise business by buying the Crystal brand along with two ocean liners.”

A conversation with several Scenic executives confirmed that this move to a multimodal travel company is attracting interest. Here’s what they said.

ZP: Are you expanding your sailing network with new ports or ships?

According to Claudius Dochekal, vice president of ocean deployments, who has 45 years of experience in the cruise industry, including stints with Azamara Club Cruises, SeaDream Yacht Club and Crystal Cruises, the brand is always looking for something new. Its most popular itineraries already include itineraries along the Danube and Rhine Rivers, its Mekong River Tours and Temple Discoveries in Southeast Asia (including Angkor Wat), and a yachting expedition in Antarctica. Dochekal answers:

CD: This is an ongoing process, especially when we want to counter over-tourism in popular destinations. Scenic yachts, with a limited number of guests, allow us to navigate smaller, more intimate spaces that larger vessels simply cannot reach. While we can’t divulge the details yet, we’re focused on finding hidden gems that offer deeper cultural engagement. The challenge is to educate guests to embrace these new shores and go beyond the beaten path of traditional tourism.

On the river side, product development manager Ana Jarak, who has 20 years of experience in river cruises and luxury hotels, echoed a similar sentiment.

AJ: It really is an ongoing process. Our travel development team works with local partners and onboard staff to create each itinerary, fine-tuning and testing it before presenting it to future guests. This process has allowed us to create some of our most expensive programs by partnering with local experts to provide special tours such as customized activities and hands-on cooking classes.

QP: How do you check the safety and quality of ground suppliers, especially in less visited regions such as the Mekong River?

CD: Our vetting process includes in-depth research, personal visits and ongoing evaluations to maintain a high level of service, with a particular emphasis on locally established organizations with a strong reputation for authenticity.

AJ: When selecting suppliers for our products, we consider carbon and culturally meaningful (and respectful) interactions to weave into the program. In particular, cultural engagement with local communities is developed only after careful consultation with all key community leaders and representatives to ensure that they have been consulted to ensure that cultural boundaries are respected.

This could mean anything from visiting a local school in the Cambodian community to help students practice their English (which is important given the range of accents on board) to talking to locals in Europe who witnessed a wartime tragedy but want to share his historical view with the guests.

A key component for Scenic is also the provision of clear net economic and social benefits for the whole community, not just for an individual or part of that community.

QP: Is there anything Scenic launched as a trial version and then expanded after positive results?

Travel designer Adam Burke, who has worked in the industry for two decades, says all of the line’s new itineraries are first tested before being added to the permanent sales list. His team draws on decades of experience elsewhere to determine which ports fit well together (rather than what seems redundant), ideal sailing lengths, and what types of shore experiences resonate most with travelers (especially a large list of repeat passengers). This can include everything from menu choices to unique activities like submarines.

AB: Our nine-night Mekong River cruises are a great example of that. Scenic and sister brand Emerald are the only two companies that operate trips of this length.

AJ: A recent example is Dinner and Dinner at La Redoute in Bonn, Germany, part of the Scenic Enrich bonus on each sailing, where guests spend the evening dining and entertaining ashore. Built over two centuries ago as a ballroom and concert hall for high-ranking nobility, La Redoute has a rich history as a venue for grand events. Working closely with the La Redoute team, we created the atmosphere and created the scintillating menus.

Our music production team was tasked with aligning the entertainment with the venue’s famous musical past, including the famous story of Beethoven’s extraordinary talent being discovered there. To make sure everything is flawless, we ran several test events in 2023 to fine-tune the details. After positive feedback from guests, it was added as a permanent part of this particular itinerary.

ZP: How has more land tours affected the cruise business?

The addition of the land component has already been approved by industry experts.

“For travelers who want to combine land and cruise vacations, it makes sense to buy it all from one operator, because if there are any problems, the operator will usually make any appropriate adjustments,” Clausing says.

“There is a growing trend for guests to book cruises back-to-back for a longer adventure on the water.”

I recommend Lydia Gregory from the magazine highlights how Scenic has joined a number of high-end travel chains serving travel consultants selling luxury sailing and land tours to less-visited destinations, helping it meet demand.

“We are seeing extraordinary demand for luxury cruises, especially luxury yachts,” says Nicole Mazza, director of marketing for TRAVELSAVERS, NEST and The Affluent Traveler Collection. “Affluent travelers increasingly seek to explore lesser-known territories in style.

Scenic executives describe how this has been a key component, particularly on certain routes, in increasing market share.

CD: Land tour extensions offer guests an easy way to extend their vacation with enriching, curated experiences, and there is a growing trend for guests to book back-to-back cruises for a longer adventure on the water as well. This led to the development of more diverse itineraries, allowing guests to combine trips without repeating destinations. This trend is changing the way we deploy our fleet and plan future routes.

AB: The overland component is an integral part of Asia’s river navigation within Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. We sell not just an Asia cruise, but a complete trip that includes a Mekong cruise. This also includes plots of land near bustling cities like Hanoi or Siem Reap, which may not be located on a river and not for individual sale. In Indochina, there are a dozen different itineraries to different parts of the region that can be included in a river cruise.

RQ: What’s next for Scenic?

CD: An extension of ourselves a young fleet of boutique yachts (for the Scenic and Emerald Cruises brands) is the focus. There will also be more extended cruises, lasting from 54 to 85 nights aboard discovery yachts, so people can combine itineraries and destinations that interest them.

AJ: The introduction of early season sailing and city expansion is the latest for the rivers, as well as the creation of multiple routes that can be connected and combined without repeating specific ports. More thematic swimming, for example seasonal and wine cruiseson the way

There will be more winter departures in February and March, as well as new seven-day flights for shorter journeys on the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Area expansion is planned for Bavaria, London and Porto, including expansion in Paris and Prague, among other locations, to connect the 18 upcoming Christmas markets.

RQ: What is the biggest challenge for a brand like Scenic?

CD: Increasing the highly competitive US cruise landscape is critical to expanding our footprint. Scenic has long been known for providing ultra-luxurious all-inclusive services, particularly in Australia, Europe and South East Asia. However, as we continue to grow, our focus must be on expanding our reach in the US market, where we are less well-known compared to other luxury cruise lines.

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