As India’s appetite for experiential travel continues to rise, the cruise segment is emerging as a high-potential growth avenue—particularly within the B2B space. However, despite strong demand, the ecosystem remains fragmented, posing operational challenges for travel agents and limiting scalability. In this exclusive interaction, Ms. Akansha Agarwal, Co-founder and CMO of Int2Cruises, shares insights on how the newly launched Partner Hub is streamlining cruise distribution, enhancing agent efficiency, and unlocking new opportunities across metro as well as Tier II and III markets. She also discusses evolving industry dynamics, early adoption trends, and the roadmap for building a more integrated, technology-driven cruise booking ecosystem in India.
How do you see the B2B cruise segment in India evolving over the next 12–18 months, and what role will travel agents continue to play in driving growth?
The B2B cruise segment in India is set for strong growth over the next 12–18 months, driven by rising demand for experiential travel and increasing awareness of global cruise offerings. As the market evolves, there is a clear shift towards more structured and technology-led distribution models. However, the current ecosystem remains fragmented, with travel agents often relying on multiple tools to complete a single booking, impacting efficiency and scalability. Addressing this challenge is key to unlocking the segment’s full potential. At Int2Cruises, our Partner Hub is a strategic priority aimed at simplifying this process by bringing together 12+ global cruise lines on a single, tech-enabled platform, thereby enhancing access, speed, and ease of booking for our partners. Travel agents will continue to play a pivotal role in driving growth, and our focus is to empower them with the right tools—putting the power back in the hands of those who are actually selling cruises while enabling a more efficient and scalable ecosystem.
Despite strong demand potential, cruise distribution in India remains fragmented. What are the biggest inefficiencies agents face today, and how do these impact booking conversions?
Despite the strong demand potential, cruise distribution in India continues to face structural inefficiencies due to its highly fragmented nature. Travel agents today are required to navigate multiple platforms and supplier systems to access inventory, generate quotes, and complete bookings. This fragmented workflow not only increases turnaround time but also limits visibility, consistency, and ease of comparison—critical factors in a high-involvement category like cruises.
These inefficiencies have a direct impact on booking conversions. Delays in sharing accurate, real-time information with customers, coupled with a complex booking process, often lead to drop-offs or missed opportunities. In many cases, the lack of a unified system restricts an agent’s ability to respond quickly and confidently, which is crucial in converting intent into confirmed bookings.
Addressing these challenges is central to unlocking growth in the B2B segment. At Int2Cruises, our focus is on enabling a more streamlined, efficient ecosystem that empowers travel agents with the tools needed to improve productivity and drive higher conversions.
What was the strategic thinking behind launching the Partner Hub, and how does it fundamentally improve the way agents discover, compare, and book cruise products?
The launch of the Int2Cruises Partner Hub is driven by a key industry insight: travel agents remain central to cruise sales, accounting for nearly 60% of bookings, as highlighted in our recent Cruise Trends Report. This reinforced the need for a dedicated B2B platform to address persistent inefficiencies in cruise distribution.
Historically, agents have relied on multiple systems to search, compare, and book cruise products, leading to fragmented workflows, inconsistent information, and slower turnaround times. The Partner Hub streamlines this process by bringing together over 12 global cruise lines on a single platform, supported by real-time inventory and transparent pricing. This enables agents to seamlessly move from search to booking without switching tools.
Additionally, the platform simplifies decision-making by allowing quick comparisons, helping agents serve clients more efficiently and confidently. Our current focus is on building a reliable, high-impact solution, with growth expected to follow as adoption increases.
Early adoption often determines the success of such platforms—what has the initial response from agents been, and what insights have emerged so far?
We have already seen encouraging results in terms of early adoption. Most notably, we have received highly positive feedback from travel agents on the product – an expected outcome, yet nonetheless gratifying. One of the first key insights was the clear demand for a platform dedicated exclusively to cruise distribution.
The second insight highlights the relief among partners at being able to operate on a single, unified platform, rather than navigating multiple systems to access different cruise lines. Previously, agents had to rely on several platforms to obtain real-time quotes or complete bookings. With 12+ leading global cruise lines now integrated into the Partner Hub, this complexity has been significantly reduced.
Finally, our agent-first approach to designing the platform has resonated strongly with partners. Unlike many existing solutions that focus primarily on end customers, Partner Hub is built around the needs of travel agents, making it both intuitive and highly effective.
How many travel agents are you planning to onboard in the first phase, and which markets—especially across Tier II and Tier III cities—are you prioritising?
At this stage, our priority is not to achieve a specific onboarding target, but to bring in the right set of travel agents—those who are committed to the cruise segment and can create meaningful value through the platform. In the early phase of the Partner Hub launch, the quality of adoption is far more critical than scale.
From a market perspective, metro cities are a natural starting point, given their established travel ecosystems. However, what is equally encouraging is the strong demand emerging from Tier II and III cities, where interest in cruise holidays is steadily gaining momentum among consumers.
This presents a significant growth opportunity. Our objective is to extend the reach of Partner Hub beyond metros, enabling agents in Tier II and III markets to access and sell global cruise inventories with the same level of pricing transparency, efficiency, and convenience as their counterparts in larger cities.
Are there defined targets in terms of bookings or revenue contribution from this segment, or is the current focus more on building scale and agent adoption?
At this stage, our strategic focus is firmly on driving meaningful adoption, rather than anchoring our approach to predefined targets for bookings or revenue contribution. As underscored in our recent Cruise Trends Report, nearly 60% of cruise bookings are facilitated through the B2B channel, highlighting the critical role of travel agents within the ecosystem.
Given that Partner Hub is still in its formative phase, it would be premature to establish definitive performance benchmarks in terms of bookings or revenue. Our immediate priority is to build a robust, agent-centric platform that effectively addresses longstanding industry challenges, including a fragmented technology landscape, a lack of real-time pricing, and inefficient booking experiences.
By delivering an integrated, end-to-end solution that brings together 12+ global cruise lines, Partner Hub is designed to enhance agent productivity and operational efficiency. At this juncture, our objective is to ensure that agents derive tangible value from the platform, with sustained growth expected to follow organically as adoption deepens.
With 12+ cruise line integrations already in place, how do you plan to expand the platform further, and what can partners expect in terms of future capabilities or inventory?
With 12+ cruise line integrations already in place, our next focus is on further strengthening inventory depth and enhancing booking capabilities. Currently, the platform integrates leading global ocean cruise lines—from discovery through to booking- including Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, MSC Cruises, Silversea, Viking, Celebrity Cruises, and Carnival, among others. This ensures that agents have access to a comprehensive global inventory within a single, unified platform.
Looking ahead, we plan to onboard additional cruise lines, with a strong emphasis on enabling smoother checkouts and faster confirmations. This will not only expand discovery opportunities for agents but also make the booking process more seamless, efficient, and reliable.
Beyond inventory expansion, we are continuously investing in platform enhancements, including advanced search and comparison tools and more intuitive integrations. Our overarching vision is to build a future-ready cruise booking platform that evolves in tandem with the industry and its growing demands.
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