Face-to-Face: CLIA Europe chairman Pierfrancesco Vago

What is unique about this new partnership?

Pierfrancesco Vago.
Pierfrancesco Vago.
The partnership is unique in recognising the vital role that travel agents play for the industry – and by focusing specifically on training the travel agent community on a high-level, pan-European standard.

This will have clear positive benefits to a pan-European cruise industry, notably by allowing travel agents in France and across Europe to embrace and support cruise promotional and marketing campaigns, such as Cruise Week.

How much is being invested in the venture?

While we are not able to disclose the amount invested in the venture, we can confirm that it will involve significant commitment from both sides – both in terms of promotional efforts and resources allocated to the programme.

What will be the key facets of this training programme?

The key aspects of the programme will include the development of a website featuring training, as well as resources and content, to support the growth of the cruise agent community, and the launching of a learning programme in France.

This will include the creation of an effective learning and engagement programme to educate and certify the travel agent community and support the growth of the cruise industry.

How will UK agents benefit from the initiative?

The training programme is already running very successfully in the UK with more than 6,500 users completing twenty-seven thousand online modules in the past year. Central to the programme is the sharing of knowledge and ideas from across the industry so as the training reaches more people and more countries, we can all benefit from shared expertise.

What do CLIA Europe and MedCruise hope will be the outcome of such a collaboration in terms of the number and quality of cruise bookings going forward?

High quality training for agents gives them the right tools to attract people to cruising in the Med and beyond. This means that even more customers will be matched with the right cruise for them – ensuring they enjoy the experience, recommend it to others and return to us for future holidays.

In addition, future growth in cruising relies heavily on travel agents converting ‘yet-to-cruise’ holidaymakers – so we hope this training will eventually help increase interest in the cruising industry as a whole.

sourced:traveldailymedia.com