Top 10 Retail Partners Win Adventure Trip to Spitsbergen and Norway

     Seattle, June 2015 – Hurtigruten has unveiled a brand new travel agent website, including the resource-rich “Amundsen Explorer Club” agent certification program. The new site also offers a litany of support materials in addition to training. Everything under one roof - webinars, brochure, video and photo libraries, special offers for agents, group planning info, marketing tools, detailed information on all of Hurtigruten's many adventure products, and the names and contact information for their local Hurtigruten sales rep. Agents can access all of these support materials and training aids at www.hurtigrutenagents.com.

     As experiential travel continues to grow in popularity and in options, travel agents must become more and more knowledgeable about the opportunities and entities that best fit their client's dreams. Hurtigruten's more than century-long experience in sailing in the Artic, and now Antarctic, makes it an ideal avenue to fill most bucket lists. Hurtigruten's certification program teaches agents to take an educational approach with their clients – pointing out the unique features and benefits of the Hurtigruten experience – and how it differs from traditional cruising. How the hands-on is often more memorable a vacation than the passive wait and see.

     Travel agents learn about the 123-year history of the line, ship details, the uniqueness of all of the company's adventure/expedition destinations -- Norway, the Arctic's Spitsbergen, Antarctica, Greenland and Iceland, themed cruising, the company's focus on the fresh-to-the-season ingredients in their restaurants, how to sell groups, best practices for prospecting potential clients, and most importantly - how to close the sale, including the online booking process. Graduates enjoy exclusive use of the Amundsen Club logo, e-newsletters, priority FAM access, as well as exclusive offers and incentives.

     There is also the added opportunity to win a trip-of-a-lifetime. A travel agent contest that ends on July 16 shows the appreciation Hurtigruten has for the efforts of so many agency partners. Hurtigruten's top 10 retail travel agents will be rewarded with a complimentary nine-day adventure for two to the Arctic's Spitsbergen and Coastal Norway, October 1-9, 2015. Each winner and their guest will join Gordon Dirker, the company's North American managing director, on a trip to the remote island of Spitsbergen, within the Svalbard Archipelago, where excursion options include a boat trip to Esmark Glacier, dog sledding on wheels or a wilderness evening at Camp Barentsburg. Afterward, tour guests will board the MS Midnatsol for a four-day voyage along the fjord-lined Norwegian Coast. Winners will be announced by July 17, 2015.

     Hurtigruten is a world leader in exploration travel, sailing to the most remote of destinations, including Antarctica, Greenland, Spitsbergen and Iceland, as well as year-round along Norway's coast. The company's fleet of intimate ships, which each carry 100 to 646 guests, allows travelers to enjoy the scenery and culture of the destination in a relaxed atmosphere.

     Additional information, brochures and reservations can be obtained from travel agents or Hurtigruten's visitor-friendly website, www.hurtigruten.com; by phone at 877-301-3117; or fax at 888-524-2145. To order brochures 24 hours a day, call 800-582-0835.

# # #

Gillies and Zaiser

212-724-7783
media@gilliesandzaiser.com
www.gilliesandzaiser.com
HTN-10-June-2015