Several hundred Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) member agencies, representing several hundred thousand cruise travelers, have already signed up for the new “WhereToCruiseNext” electronic marketing program. The first consumer e-mail is set to launch in January and agents and CLIA member cruise lines must sign up in order to participate.
“Clearly the industry wants more ways to help agencies reach their consumers with customized offers to generate sales in today’s marketplace,” said Bob Sharak, executive vice president of marketing and distribution for CLIA. “With such strong response right out of the gate, we wanted to provide some training opportunities to be sure everyone takes full advantage of this free marketing service.”
For an introduction to this new suite of electronic marketing tools, CLIA member agencies are invited to join one of two scheduled webinars: December 3 at 4 p.m. EST and December 16 at 1p.m. EST. Those interested should email [email protected] to schedule the webinar of their choice.
Earlier this month, CLIA announced a partnership with MarketEaseOnline (MEO) to create this new suite of electronic marketing tools for CLIA member agencies and cruise lines. The partnership features free customized “WhereToCruiseNext” e-mails delivered to a growing database of cruise consumers. The e-mails will offer cruise promotions from only CLIA member lines, with the call to action directly back to the recipient’s participating CLIA member agency. MEO also includes e-mail tools for agents to create and send their own cruise e-mail campaigns.
A link to a suite of e-mail tools is available to all 16,000 CLIA member agencies at the Travel Agent Center section of CLIA website, www.cruising.org/travelagents. To take advantage of this new “WhereToCruiseNext” initiative, agents are requested to check out the CLIA preferred member benefits section of CLIA’s website or simply click on www.MarketEaseOnline.com/CLIA.