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| Christine Duffy, CLIA's president and CEO // Photo by Irene Owsle |
Big changes to CLIA’s travel agent membership program topped the news on Travel Agent this week, but the new program was only the latest in a series of realignments at the organization. Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening.
CLIA's new membership program, based on feedback from focus groups, cruise lines and travel agents, is aimed at changing the membership structure to remain relevant in an industry where home-based agents and host, franchise groups and consortia play an increasingly large role.
The new program is divided into Silver, Gold and Diamond membership levels. Per-agent prices have been lowered to make the program friendlier to independent agents, but individual agents must earn a minimum of $5,000 total cruise commission in a year in order to be eligible. Individual agents will also now get their own membership numbers.
Additionally, the program now offers a premium category for larger agencies and host agencies, franchises and consortia.
A Stronger Travel Agent Focus
The new membership program is not the first step CLIA has taken this year to draw in more travel agents. In January, the organization hired Dwain Wall to the newly created position of senior vice president of agency and trade relations. When our cruise editor, Susan Young, interviewed Wall shortly after his appointment, he cited more two-way communication between cruise lines and agents as one of his major goals .
As part of this effort, Wall said that he was focused on looking how the Trade Relations and Sales Committee and the Travel Agent Advisory Board communicate.
“One of the things I’m focused on is better engagement,” Wall said. Wall indicated he wanted to extend that engagement to cruise lines, independent agents, host agencies and franchise agencies.
Keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for the latest travel industry news, trends and updates.