CLIA has today (Monday 4 May) launched a new global online education course, Cruise Champion.

Created for all travel agents, including non-CLIA members, the course is designed to help agents “respond confidently to many of the issues and questions that customers may raise” and covers health and safety regulations, security, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility.

Travel agent partners who complete the course will also be kept updated with the latest developments in the sector.

Commenting on the new programme, CLIA UK and Ireland director Andy Harmer said: “Cruise Champion lays out some of the protocols already in place in the cruise industry, some of the institutions and laws and the environmental work that’s being done by the industry.

“Much of what we talk about will inform a useful backdrop for when we discuss some of the new protocols that we’ll be doing around Covid-19.

“We will start to talk a lot more about these institutions and regulations in much more detail, so having this background information is really important.”

Cruise Champion signals CLIA’s first global education course, as the leading cruise industry body works to unite the travel trade community across the world in the fight against coronavirus.

Harmer commented: “We are starting to bring travel agents into this community regardless of where they work in the world because these issues around health and safety, the environment and so on will be the same whether you’re a travel agent in the UK or a travel agent in Sydney.”

CLIA has today also revealed the results of its latest consumer survey, which highlights how the interest in cruising remains strong in spite of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Visit cruiseexperts.org for more information.