CLIA Welcomes Agents to 10th Annual Conference April 4, 2014
The Cruise Lines International Association kicked off its 10thannual cruise3sixty conference for travel agents in Fort Lauderdale with a welcome greeting from CEO Christine Duffy and a call from top cruise line executives for more first-timers. Agents also heard from Dwain Wall, CLIA's new senior vice president-agency and trade relations, who revealed that CLIA’s National Cruise Vacation Week will be rebranded this year as CLIA Cruise Week Oct. 6-13. “It’s going global,” as CLIA has over the past couple of years, and will be promoted in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and Ireland, said Wall, the former general manager of agent networks CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. Duffy said CLIA forecasts that 21.7 million people will cruise in 2014, a 66 percent increase over 2005, when the first cruise3sixty was held. (The event will be held in Fort Lauderdale again in 2015 and 2017, but no mention was made which port will host in 2016. It has been held in Vancouver twice.)
Duffy also mentioned the importance of the millennial market, which totals 95 million people born between 1980 and 2000 — a market larger than the estimated 80 million Baby Boomers. These young adults aren’t necessarily devoted cruisers, so agents and cruise lines must work to attract them. However, kids that cruise with their parents generally remain cruise aficionados, Duffy said. “The multi-generational trend is a good one for the industry and for your business,” she said. And attracting new cruisers is key to the health of the industry, according to four top cruise company executives who spoke on a panel, because less than 4 percent of Americans have ever taken a cruise. Echoing comments made last month at Cruise Shipping Miami, Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corp., said agents must work to overcome negative perceptions some people have about cruising and then qualify them to put them on the right ship for them. Executives noted how showy features — ropes courses, water slides, rock-climbing walls, high-dive shows and ziplines — catch the eye of new cruisers. Kevin Sheehan, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, said the edgy Broadway show “Rock of Ages” prompted “a lot of people to say ‘that’s kinda cool.’ We have to get consumers to look and say ‘I’m going to give that a try.’ ” It’s incumbent upon the cruise lines to communicate new features to travel agents, so they in turn can attract the first-timers and match them up with the right brand, he said. Interestingly, Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., took issue with conventional wisdom that ever-splashy cruise ships are now the destination rather than the ports of call. The itinerary remains important even as people select ships based on their onboard features, he said. “We do both,” he said. “We bring you to wonderful places and do it in a wonderful way.” Plus, cruise ships are mobile, able to depart regions when trouble flares up, as has happened in the Middle East, Northern Africa and now the Black Sea, said
Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises. “If there’s a problem, we can move,” he said. “It’s the best way to visit the world.” The executives also took the opportunity to reinforce their commitment to travel agents. “For all of us, travel agents are the lifeblood of our success,” Sheehan said. “We need you and we value you,” Donald said. “Thank you for everything you do.”
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