“What we’re very passionate about here is staying current, on trend, and identifying what is driving the industry. Events and tourism have different touch points, to a certain degree, with crossover of course. But each requires a dedicated focus on guest experience and innovation. It was wonderful to witness that a lot of the investments that we’ve put in are helping us achieve our goals – which is a more robust, guest focused experience.”
– Cindi Vanden Heuvel, Vice-President, Mariposa Cruises
Executive Overview
Operating since 1987, Mariposa Cruises is the largest hospitality cruise operator in Toronto, Canada. Mariposa hosts a wide range of events, from corporate outings and weddings to dinner, brunch, lunch and Toronto Harbour tour cruises.
Mariposa Cruises, the largest hospitality cruise operator in Toronto, had been offering English-only tours in one of the most multicultural cities in the world. The company invested in a strategy to grow its sightseeing business by making significant improvements to its customer experience.
Knowing the consequences of delivering poorly received tours, Mariposa turned to AudioConexus for help to create new tours that offered passengers fun and engaging experiences. With exceptional customer service being a company-wide strategic goal, Mariposa Cruises wanted a high-quality, reliable delivery platform to meet the needs of its customers. Additionally, the company wanted to increase ridership by offering more value to international tour operators.
Business Challenges
As a corporate event and sightseeing company, Mariposa Cruises had limited resources to devote to personalizing tours for foreign language visitors. Nevertheless, the company wanted to keep engaging and delighting its customers and needed innovative answers to questions about the best ways to create experiences that attracted key foreign language markets. In addition, the solutions had to be flexible and adaptable so that stories could be refreshed with ease to keep up with Toronto’s ever-changing skyline.
To maintain its leadership position in the market and support a culture focused on making guest experiences memorable, Mariposa Cruises collaborated with AudioConexus Creative Services to produce premium tours delivered via GPS commentary solutions.
Solution
To differentiate itself in the local market, Mariposa Cruises invested in a more robust customer experience with AudioConexus. The company had its sightseeing tours rewritten to capture Toronto’s skyline, landmarks and seascapes in ways that are now entertaining, engaging and accessible to domestic and international travelers alike. Using wireless receivers and headsets to select their tour of choice, passengers are free to roam around vessels without limitation.
These enhancements enabled Mariposa Cruises to better connect to international tour wholesalers looking for premium tours for their customers. New partnerships generated increased ridership in its first season with the company’s newly introduced tours.
“AudioConexus did a really good job of providing a robust, interesting narrative that had all of these thematic threads of stories tied together, giving our listeners a great snapshot of life in Toronto. From historical to current day storytelling, the content does not become outdated in a matter of minutes. It’s been really well received.”
– Cindi Vanden Heuvel, Vice-President, Mariposa Cruises
Key Outcomes
The Mariposa Cruises team launched its tours in English, French, Spanish and Mandarin. Seeing the continued growth and demand for foreign language experiences, management continues to make foreign language commentary a priority. The company is expanding its language offerings to include German and Japanese. Mariposa Cruises has also invested in staff training so that crewmembers can answer any questions guests may have about the commentary.
“We’re already seeing a great response and enthusiasm from the market. We didn’t anticipate that there would be the initial response there was – we’ve already seen a significant increase in ridership! New tour operators that had not previously cruised with us are now identifying that their guests would be interested in doing this. We see opportunity in this market place to welcome more visitors from the group market.”
– Cindi Vanden Heuvel, Vice-President, Mariposa Cruises
Business Results
- Increased Ridership
- New Partnerships and Group Tour Business
- Better Passenger Experiences
Only AudioConexus: Navilution Next
Exclusive to AudioConexus customers is wireless GPS commentary solutions. With Navilution Next, passengers have the freedom to move around without missing out on commentary. Navilution Next is the only GPS commentary solution that can transfer to another bus or boat as operational needs change.
In addition to portability, Navilution Next offers cutting-edge audio and video delivery for passenger experiences that capture attention, emotion and clarity using video for storytelling as well as sign language and textual signage for people with hearing impairments.
If you’re an ambitious tour operator who wants to attract new customers and promote your competitive advantages, learn why Navilution Next is right for you.
