Swan Hellenic is placing travel advisor education, familiarisation opportunities and consumer awareness at the centre of its GCC growth strategy as the cultural expedition cruise line works to build greater familiarity with its product across the region.
Swan Hellenic is placing travel advisor education, familiarisation opportunities and consumer awareness at the centre of its GCC growth strategy as the cultural expedition cruise line works to build greater familiarity with its product across the region.
Speaking to The Cruise News Middle East at Arabian Travel Market 2026, Mutaz Mokhtar, Head of MENA at Swan Hellenic, said curiosity and demand are present, but greater understanding of cruise and expedition travel is still needed to convert that interest into business.
ATM 2026 marked Mokhtar’s first edition representing Swan Hellenic in his current role, following his appointment earlier this year to lead sales across the GCC from Dubai. He is no stranger to the show, having attended regularly since 2005 during his previous career in the wider travel and hospitality sector. This year’s event generated new prospective clients and leads for Swan Hellenic, including contacts Mokhtar said he had not expected to encounter at the show.
Education at the centre of GCC strategy
Asked what would help regional travel advisors sell the product more effectively, Mokhtar’s response was direct.
“Education, education, education is number one.”
The strategy includes webinars, workshops, roadshows and familiarisation trips designed to give advisors both product knowledge and first-hand experience.
For Swan Hellenic, the education requirement extends beyond brand awareness. The line specialises in cultural expedition cruising, combining geographical exploration with cultural and scientific discovery aboard boutique expedition ships. Mokhtar said advisors need to understand how expedition travel works, when different destinations are best visited and how a more flexible expedition programme differs from a conventional fixed cruise itinerary. That knowledge becomes particularly important when customers approach an advisor looking for something different from destinations they may already have visited repeatedly.
“If your team, the travel agency team, does not know that there is a new product, does not know how to promote this product, then we failed the client,” Mokhtar said.
Explaining the expedition experience
Swan Hellenic’s product spans both polar and cultural expedition destinations, making destination knowledge an important part of the sales process. Its current programmes include Arctic voyages with Zodiac exploration and expert-led experiences, alongside Antarctic itineraries and cultural expedition cruises in destinations including Asia-Pacific.
Mokhtar said the trade needs to understand seasonality, routing and the more dynamic nature of expedition travel so advisors can guide customers towards the right voyage at the right time. The challenge, in his view, is not a lack of regional curiosity. He said GCC travellers are interested in new travel experiences, but that interest needs to be supported by advisors who understand the product well enough to introduce it confidently.
Trade and consumer awareness work together
Swan Hellenic is approaching regional development through both B2B and B2C activity. On the trade side, Mokhtar said structured partnerships, training and direct relationships with advisors will remain important. The company maintains a UAE office in Dubai as part of its regional presence.
Consumer awareness will require a different approach. Mokhtar said Swan Hellenic has been developing social media activity and is preparing a Saudi-focused influencer collaboration as part of efforts to reach travellers directly. Saudi Arabia remains an important target market within the company’s wider GCC strategy.
The objective is for consumer awareness and trade education to reinforce each other. Greater visibility can generate enquiries, while better-informed advisors are then in a stronger position to convert those enquiries into the right expedition product.
Building the market over time
Mokhtar is confident that the regional opportunity can develop relatively quickly if the company maintains the right level of engagement. He said his near-term goal is to build a sufficiently strong prospective customer base over the coming months, while acknowledging that broader market education will require sustained effort.
“I’m not going to say the journey will end tomorrow,” he said. “We need at least a year to complete this task.”
His outlook is built around identifying the right customer segments, choosing effective regional partners and ensuring advisors have the information needed to sell the product.
For Swan Hellenic, growing expedition cruising in the GCC is therefore less about introducing a single destination and more about developing the knowledge infrastructure around the product. The curiosity is already present. The next step is making sure both travel advisors and their customers understand what expedition cruising can offer, and how to turn that interest into the right journey.
More from ATM 2026: Read Cruise at ATM 2026: The Industry View, TCN’s flagship analysis of the trends, trade priorities and market opportunities emerging from this year’s show.
Source: This interview was conducted by The Cruise News Middle East editor-in-chief Sini Jerome at Arabian Travel Market 2026 in Dubai.
