CLIA has announced that its new online learning resource will launch in July.

Created exclusively for UK & Irish travel agent members, the CLIA Summer School will see various member cruise lines and partners join weekly live webinars to share industry updates.

Starting on 9 July, it will run from 9am-10am every Thursday until the end of August.

These sessions will see CLIA UK & Ireland director Andy Harmer joined by four representatives from different cruise lines, spanning the ocean, river, luxury, and expedition sectors.

The first webinar will feature MSC Cruises, Uniworld, Ponant, and Azamara.

Additional sessions during July and August will take place on a Wednesday, where agents will hear from CLIA partners as they share expert selling tips, advice and insights. The first of these sessions – Sales and Positivity with Debbee Dale – will take place on 8 July, from 9am – 10am.

Harmer said: “The brand new Summer School is a weekly opportunity for CLIA travel agents to join interactive webinars, where they will hear directly from cruise line representatives and CLIA partners.

“During the live webinars, agents will be able to ask questions and learn about the latest industry updates, helping to answer queries their customers may have.”

Agents will be able to register for the Summer School from 1 July on cruising.org.

Summer School follows on from the Cruise Champion course, launched earlier this year, which is designed to help agents, including non-CLIA members, “respond confidently to many of the issues and questions that customers may raise”. It features information on health and safety regulations, security, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility.

CLIA recently announced that the association’s ocean-going cruise line members had voluntarily extended the suspension of cruise operations from US ports until 15 September 2020.