By
Elizabeth Robinson |
British based cruise operator CMV Travel & Leisure Group will deploy the Magellan to the Pacific coast of Mexico for winter 2019 to support the launch of Cruceros Marítimos Vacacionales and its Riviera cruise programme for the domestic Mexican market.
Magellan will begin operations on 3 February 2019 with a winter debut season of eight seven-night sailings homeporting from both Acapulco and Manzanillo.
“CMV specialise in the development of dedicated source markets having successfully established markets and programmes in the UK and Ireland, Germany, Australia and France,” said Christian Verhounig, CEO of CMV. “CMV will currently be the only exclusive Mexican cruise product available on the domestic leisure market. The Mexican market offers great potential and we plan to extend the season in 2020. This exciting new initiative is part of the Group’s continued strategic international development plan in achieving our longer-term growth objectives.”
The itinerary will include calls to Manzanillo and Cabo San Lucas in the Baja California peninsula. Acapulco will be the primary gateway port serving the region of Guerrero and Mexico City.
“We will be opening a dedicated sales office in Mexico City and officially launching Cruceros Marítimos Vacacionales and the debut 2019 Magellan programme during Q1-2018 with big trade launch events planned in Mexico City, Acapulco, Guadalajara and Mazatlan, at the 2018 ‘Tianguis Turistico’ the most important event of the tourism sector in Mexico,” said John Dennis, vice president sales and marketing of the CMV North American Fort Lauderdale based sales office.
“With the recent growth of domestic tourism in Mexico we firmly believe that the market conditions are now suited to the launch of an authentic Mexican cruise product, multi-resort and vacation experience,” said Chris Coates, group commercial director. “The product will be very much tailored to Mexican tastes and aspirations. We believe that Magellan’s quality, size, bed configuration makes her ideally suited to this business with the focus very much on the domestic home market and developing a product for Mexico.”