At the Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum, currently taking place in Athens, MedCruise and CLIA Europe signed a strategic partnership agreement on travel agent training. Alan Lam reports.

The agreement - signed by Carla Salvadó, President of MedCruise, and Pierfrancesco Vago, Chairman of CLIA’s Europe – aims to collaborate, sponsor and support the advancement of a European travel agent training programme, according the MedCruise press office.

CLIA Europe is engaged in travel agent training, research and marketing communications to promote cruise holidays. This agreement will allow the expansion of ETALP - CLIA’s successful travel agent training programme - to France, where thousands of travel agents will have access to CLIA’s online training resources.

“This strategic agreement marks an important milestone in MedCruise relationship with CLIA Europe,” said Carla Salvadό, commenting on the agreement. “I am delighted that our associations will collaborate in training travel agents and giving them the right tools to attract even more people to cruising in the Med and beyond. The partnership shows that in the port community as well as in the cruise industry we never lose sight of the fact that our success is directly tied to the travel agent community."

“The travel agent community play and will continue to play an essential role in the cruise industry’s supply chain,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, “bringing our fantastic product closer to the end customer. We see agents as a vital link between travellers and cruise lines. They are our leading advocates when it comes to communicating the thrill of a cruise vacation. This agreement will see the expansion of CLIA’s travel agent training programme to one key European market, but it will not be the last one. I am glad that, in taking this step, CLIA Europe and MedCruise will continue to engage with and invest in a sector of fundamental importance to our industry.”

Further detail will be revealed and discussed in the forthcoming 46th MedCruise General Assembly, to be held in Zadar, Croatia, from 3 June to 5 June. Cruise Business Review correspondents will be attending.