Uniworld Boutique River Cruises will offer one-day ship visits this year to support agents who cannot take extended time away from their desks.

UK & Ireland managing director Chris Townson told Travel Weekly the line tested one-day fams last year and found they were “very successful”, so he plans to run 25 in 2024.

Each trip will host up to seven agents, who will get the Eurostar to Paris, board a ship, take a tour, have lunch and dinner on board and get the train back again.

“Gone are the days agents could spend seven nights on a fam trip,” he said. “Our agent partners want to come, but their agencies are struggling to release them for even two nights away so we’ve had to be creative and come up with ways they can still see our ships in a short amount of time.”

Townson predicted more than 400 agents would visit Uniworld ships this year, made up of on board conferences, ship visits, fam trips and agents taking personal holidays with the line.

He emphasised the value of getting agents on board, saying the investment in hosting the trade is returned in bookings.

“We put our money in the spaces we are going to get the biggest wins and we know the biggest win is agents seeing the product,” he said. “If we get people on board our ships, we know we will see a return in sales.

“That is also the reason we offer such good agent rates so our trade partners can take their own holidays and experience the product as a customer.”