CLIA reveals membership benefits and refreshed events for 2025

Following a record year in 2024, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has opened for 2025 membership in the UK & Ireland. Travel agents are being offered enhanced benefits including new events, new resources and the second wave of CLIA’s Expedition and River Cruise Champion Programmes.

In addition to the chance to join the flagship RiverView Conference in March and CLIA Conference in May, CLIA is refreshing its events to meet the demands of the travel agent community and reflect the ongoing development of the wider industry. With an increasing cruise line membership, across all cruise sectors, CLIA is focusing on a diverse level of travel agent expertise, from new-to-selling to experts.

May’s CLIA Conference will include an add-on event – the Expedition Summit – which will be an alternative to those joining the New to Selling Cruise event. Both are optional and will take place prior to the conference itself.

The Expedition Champion and the River Champion hybrid learning programmes, new for autumn 2024, will get another outing in the second half of 2025 with a further intake of travel agent learners.

And a brand-new, full day event – The Art of Selling Cruises – scheduled for the summer, will provide an industry-wide day of support to agents who wish to grow cruise sales.

Members will also be able to –

• Register for CLIA’s enhanced ‘Cruise Forum’ residential events, each with a different sector focus, covering river; expedition; luxury; and yacht, sailing, traditional and small ship cruising.
• Access the trade section of CLIA’s website, cruising.org, which includes new-to-selling resources, destination and itinerary experience factsheets, cruise line brand profiles, incentives and offers, and online training and certification
• View CLIA’s virtual ship tours, an online library featuring 25 videos including ocean, river and expedition ships
• Join and catch up on ‘CLIA Presents’ webinars, which offer cruise line brand updates; and a monthly ‘Focus On’ session, which looks at different sectors within the cruise market.

Membership details are available via CLIA’s website, cruising.org

Andy Harmer, CLIA MD for the UK & Ireland, said: “As the cruise industry continues to attract record numbers of passengers and expands its range of destinations even further on an ever wider range of ships, we’re ensuring we provide agents with more insight, resources and in-person opportunities than ever before. 2025 is set to mark another milestone year in the cruise calendar, and we’re looking forward to working even more closely with our fantastic agent partners to develop their expertise and help them inspire travellers with unforgettable experiences.”

CLIA also revealed it will use the hashtag #WeCruiseThere across its communications platforms during the registration periods of 2024 and 2025.