Cruise Control wins top Costa award
Specialist independent agency Cruise Control has picked up the top UK sales award from Costa Cruises for the second year running.
The company was amongst six UK travel companies nominated by the Italian line for their high levels of business achieved in the past year.
Cruise Control took the main prize for generating £1 million extra business for Costa in the period.
Other winners in the line’s Champion of the Seas awards were The Travel House, Sealand Travel Centre and TV Travel Shop. Page & Moy and Cosmos were also nominated.
The awards were handed out at a ceremony on board Costa’s new 3,470-passenger flagship Costa Magica on a preview sailing for the travel trade in the Mediterranean.
Agents from 40 countries were represented on the two-night voyage from Savona in Italy.
Costa, part of the Carnival Corporation, announced that it had acquired the AIDA Cruises brand, the German market’s leading cruise line with four ships.
The combination of Costa and AIDA gives a total fleet of 15 vessels. There are orders for two more 2,030-passenger AIDA ships and one 3,800-passenger vessel for Costa.
AIDA had a turnover of more than E300 million and carried 179,000 passengers in 2003. Last year Costa recorded sales of E786 million, a rise of seven per cent over 2002, and carried 557,300 passengers, up 21%.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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