The final figures are in. The Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) cruise3sixty 2010 conference and trade show in Vancouver had 1,407 registered travel selling professional delegates resulting in 1,220 agents on site. Including exhibitors and suppliers, cruise3sixty hosted nearly 2,100 total delegates and welcomed 302 trade show exhibitor booths— both record-breaking numbers.
Reflecting the growing importance of Canada’s cruise market, Canadian agents accounted for 46 percent of cruise3sixty attendees this year, with American participation evenly distributed between eastern and western regions of the U.S. Among international participants there were 25 delegates from Australia as well as from Brazil, India, Turkey and other countries around the world, another strong indication of the globalization of the industry CLIA said.
In its sixth year, this was the first time cruise3sixty was held outside of Fort Lauderdale, where the association is headquartered, CLIA said. Once again, American Express was cruise3sixty’s presenting sponsor, joined by Tourism Vancouver, Port Metro Vancouver, Vancouver International Airport, Super, Natural British Columbia and a host of other sponsors, including Amadeus and Sabre Travel Network.
The conference celebrated women of influence and accomplishment in travel and business, in addtion to puttting a spotlight on key issues facing the industry.
"In addition to our many loyal travel agent partners from the United States, the strong showing by agents from Canada and other parts of the world are an indication of how important international business and the globalization of cruise operations are for the industry going forward," said Terry L. Dale, CLIA’s president and CEO.
Throughout the course of the conference, agents participated in 15 CLIA seminars to earn up to 135 credits toward CLIA Certification as well as workshops, destination briefings, and cruise line product demonstrations and booking demo’s. CLIA training seminars taught a total of 2,425 participants, with many agents taking more than one course.
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