Riviera Travel is considering more long-haul destinations for its river cruises in future, its chief executive has said.
The river cruise line will have a fleet of 16 ships by 2028, with three new Radiance Class vessels to “most likely” sail on the Rhine, Danube and Moselle rivers, as well as its first its first owned and operated ship outside of Europe, the Riviera Alba, on the Mekong in 2027.
Chief executive Phil Hullah told Travel Weekly: “There are rivers we are thinking about. In Europe there aren’t that many more but for long-haul we are looking at a few options to do similar things, so there’s more to follow on that.”
He stressed the company “wants to get it right and not misfire”, adding: “We do the Nile in partnership as we do not have our own ship there.
“We do one or two things in China and also in India on rivers, but there are bits of South America and North America where there is some really exciting stuff, particularly if you can make it part of a long-haul tour.
“We want to take people to [places], whether that is in Vietnam or South America, and we can bring a bit of river into that.”
Combining river cruises with long-haul touring would provide Riviera Travel with “an opportunity to stand out”, Hullah said, but it “needs to be done properly” and requires “big commitments on investment”.
