The paralysis of travel due to the pandemic ended up benefiting SoloCruceros.com, an online portal dedicated to the search, reservation and management of this type of vacation. Its founder, Román Lopezosa, took advantage of the break to invest in technology, improve booking engines and boost its positioning.
“This has helped us emerge stronger from the covid crisis, we have gained market share and grown significantly this year,” he says from the recently opened offices in the center of Barcelona. The family company has recently opened another office in Madrid. “We have many clients there and being physically present is important, although we are a digital company, people like to be able to go see you at the offices if necessary”, he comments.
They have also increased the part of telephone attention. “Cruises are a complex product, there is a wide variety of offers with very specific characteristics, the average ticket is high and customers prefer direct advice; sales are usually closed by phone ”, he adds.
This investment in technology and customer service are behind, according to Lopezosa, his leap forward. In 2019 the company had a turnover of 3 million euros and had 10 employees. In 2022, despite the fact that the cruise season still started later than usual due to the covid and the war -in May-, 8 million euros entered. By 2023, with the sector fully recovered, they hope to reach sales of 16 million euros and increase the workforce from the current 40 employees to 60 distributed between the two offices in Barcelona and Madrid.
Like the tourism sector in general, the demand for cruises is also at its highest this year, which has increased prices. "There is a lack of availability despite the fact that capacity is at its maximum, which is why shipping companies are betting on new and larger ships," he points out.
The type of customer and the most requested destinations have also returned to normal. If during the covid customers were looking almost exclusively for Mediterranean cruises, now the area of the Baltic countries, the fjords in Norway and the Middle East are making a comeback. Cruise passengers, for their part, are made up of the majority of families and couples of middle age and up. All SoloCruceros.com customers come from Spain and Latin America as the company is specialized in the Spanish-speaking market.
With the increase in staff and the two new offices, Lopezosa considers that the company is prepared to continue increasing quota and sales. A growth that they want to assume while maintaining the shareholding structure, without outside investors.
