Ponant open first Indian office to keep up with demand

Ponant will open its first office in India to support the company’s growth and provide a local base to address the unprecedented increase in luxury expedition cruising demand in the country.

Leading the new office is Manish Sonar, Ponant newly appointed National Business Development Executive for India and Sri Lanka, whose career spans years of experience in the luxury space from hotels to tour operations and travel management.

Manish Sonar. (Supplied)

Bringing his extensive knowledge of the luxury travel industry, Sonar will provide both business and customer support, through local sales assistance to Ponant’s trade partners and local customer services for its passengers. The new office becomes Ponant’s tenth bureau and the fourth in the Asia Pacific region following the openings of Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney.

“The new Ponant office comes at the perfect time as the Asian continent is once again fully open to travel for the first time in over three years,” Sonar said.

“With the pandemic officially behind us, our travel partners are seeing record-breaking enquiry for luxury expedition cruises, which is precisely what Ponant offers across its fleet including Le Jacques-Cartier, which has frequented Indian waters and ports for many years. We are thrilled to be able to provide a local support to the growing demand and look forward to developing our activities in both India and Sri Lanka.”

Le Jacques-Cartier operates various sailings in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, and India, visiting Colombo, Cochin, Goa, and Mumbai.

The vessel is the sixth and final of the explorers series, a highly successful series of sister ships carrying up to 184 guests in 92 refined staterooms and suites.

“Manish brings a wealth of knowledge in the luxury travel industry and will be a great addition to the PONANT team supporting our local trade partners, assisting our guests, and developing strategies to further expand our activities in the region,” director of sales (APAC), Ponant, Julie Rogers, said.

“We could not be more delighted to count Manish in our business development team and to lead this new office.”

After an intensive training period in Australia, Manish Sonar took up his full-time role with Ponant in India from 01 June.

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Julie Rogers Le Jacques Cartier Manish Sonar ponant