FCTG cruise experts, get ready to up-skill … Flight Centre Travel Group has inked a major deal with Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) that aims to boost cruise industry know-how and “significantly” grow business across the group.
The agreement gives the entire FCTG consultant and independent leisure network in Australia and New Zealand access to CLIA’s cruise industry training.
Consequently, FCTG hopes consumers will book cruise holidays with Flight Centre consultants with even greater confidence.
As part of the deal, CLIA will provide cruise specialists across FCTG leisure brands with:
1. Personal development and training operated by CLIA.
2. CLIA resources and toolkit access.
3. Access to CLIA reports and insights.
4. A CLIA profile on their system to allow clients to be directed to cruise specialists.
5. Industry recognition as a cruise specialist.
What it means for FCTG
Flight Centre Travel Group Leisure CEO James Kavanagh said the agreement “enables FCTG leisure brands to aim for a significantly larger market share and aligns with our strategic goal of becoming a major player in the Australasian cruise sector”.
“CLIA is recognised as a world leader in cruise industry training for travel consultants, so we’re very excited to have this opportunity for our travel experts to be trained by the best,” he added.
“Cruise is one of the fastest growing areas of the travel industry. 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.”
CLIA Managing Director in Australasia Joel Katz said the deal would add more than 3,000 FCTG travel consultants to the CLIA community.
“CLIA aims to make its members the most knowledgeable and successful cruise specialists in Australasia, so 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.”
CLIA expects the number of people travelling on cruises globally to exceed the pre-pandemic 2019 record by six per cent in 2023 and another 14 per cent in 2024.
FCTG catch-up
So how many consultants (and customers) does FCTG Leisure now have and who are they?
Flight Centre Global Managing Director Andrew Stark recently called the boom in travel advisor business the “Renaissance of the travel agent”. In this exclusive chat with Karryon, the Flight Centre MD also talked about what’s next for FC agents.
Read our in-depth interview with FCTG Global Leisure CEO James Kavanagh.
And check out our preview (or at least everything we know so far) of FCTG’s Flichella 2023 music festival.
