| CLIA and FCTG partner on training

CRUISE Lines International Association (CLIA) has partnered with Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) to provide all travel consultants in Australia with access to the organisation’s globally recognised training (CW breaking news yesterday).

The partnership will provide cruise specialists across FCTG leisure brands with personal development and training, resources & toolkit access, reports & insights, industry recognition, and more.

CLIA Managing Director Joel Katz said the FCTG agreement will add more than 3,000 travel consultants to the Association’s global cruise community.

“We are delighted to help build this expertise across the Flight Centre network,” Katz said.

“Being a part of the CLIA community gives travel consultants access to an enormous amount of knowledge, online training, resources and live events, all of which gives them greater ability to assist their clients and boost their cruise business.”

FCTG Chief Executive Officer Leisure James Kavanagh said the company is very excited about the opportunity to be trained by the best, to achieve its goal of becoming a major player in the sector locally.

“Cruise is one of the fastest growing areas of the travel industry…this agreement enables FCTG leisure brands to aim for a significantly larger market share,” he explained.

“As more people choose to cruise, it’s timely for us to upskill our consultants to become cruise specialists so they can offer customers the best ‘shop to ship’ service – from helping them plan their trip to securing the best deal on a cruise that suits.”

The news was foreshadowed when FCTG’s luxury brand Travel Associates last week announced all of its locations will become CLIA members (CW 03 Jul).