The travel trade industry returned to Cannes for the annual TFWA World Exhibition for the first time in three years post pandemic, and as the Cruise industry in particular is seeing a strong return to growth,  we were delighted to win the DFNI Frontier award  as “Cruise Retailer of the Year”.

It’s an exciting time for the sector, with guest bookings on the increase, new ships becoming ever more individual in style and personality, and the retail environments adapting to deliver more creativity, interaction and new brand names partners all the time.

Which means winning the award in the midst of this, is something of which we are immensely proud of, and something that lies very much at the feet of all of our people who contribute with one team spirit and energy to all that Harding+ does in making every cruise better.

From our 1000+ team members on board ships, to our 250+  colleagues Landside, the sum of the parts all matter.  From customer service and understanding the unique on board guest mindset, to the commercial growth that comes from our ‘Quaternity’ partnership thinking, to the effectiveness of our logistics, in store executions and marketing and promotional approaches.

Harding+ is a business that doesn’t stand still, something the ‘+’ rebranding stands for at the core. The award win is satisfying and instils great pride, but we will continue to focus on pushing boundaries, innovating and using our depth of guest data to move  further forward in sustainability, in all areas of creative solutions, and with consistent focus on our culture and team experience.

We are the leader in cruise retail in ship numbers, but what always matters is that we match that with behaviour, value and mindsets as well.