The first results of the CLIA Europe-MedCruise strategic partnership were revealed in Paris on November 24th.
During a special event, held on board CroisiEurope’s MS Botticelli, the Associations representing cruise lines and Med cruise ports respectively launched the CruiseExperts Programme.
Via this initiative, CLIA Europe and MedCruise are jointly working to create a French Travel Agent learning platform that aims to engage, educate and certify the travel agent community and support the growth of the cruise industry, while at the same time promoting all MedCruise members in a balanced way.
The programme will bring together the cruise community of France with the aim of growing the number of people taking a cruise holiday. The number of French passengers taking a cruise in 2014 rose by nearly 14% to 593.000.
Among the keynote speakers of the event, MedCruise President Carla Salvadό explained the main objectives of this joint initiative, and the importance that MedCruise assigns in the further development of the strategic collaboration between MedCruise and CLIA Europe.
MedCruise Director of Professional Development and French Riviera Ports Marketing and Communication manager, Anne-Sophie Peyran, joined the discussions introducing the importance of the initiative for French Med ports, whereas the event was attended by other MedCruise French Port representatives as well.
In 2016, a number of French travel agent focused events will be held to support the online portal, as well as bring together travel agents, cruise line executives and industry partners to further inform travel agencies in all aspects of cruising.
The CruiseExperts platform
The Cruise Experts online platform is organised into three distinct areas. The Learning Academy provides almost 90 cruise and cruise sales training modules together with a resource centre containing more in-depth reports and statistics. The Cruise Tool Box features resources to assist agents during the sales process including the unique digital brochure rack; specially created CLIA factsheets; a fully updated cruise search engine and CLIA Destination Guides. The third area is CLIA Cruise Daily which features the latest cruise news and special guest columns, and a centralised calendar of cruise industry events open to travel agents.
Photo L-R: Carla Salvadό MedCruise President, Raphael von Heereman CLIA Europe Secretary General, Anne-Sophie Peyran MedCruise Director & French Riviera Ports, Andy Harmer CLIA UK & Ireland Director, Cédric Rivoire-Perrochat CLIA France General Manager
