Celebrity Cruises has launched a campaign in partnership with Travel Weekly to support new-to-cruise agents.
The campaign, called Celebrity Cruises for Beginners, provides agents with the tools and resources they need to begin selling cruise to their customers, along with advice on the language and terminology used in the sector.
Agents can also earn points over the next six months by participating in surveys, watching webinars, attending ship visits, making bookings and completing online training modules. The five agents with the most points at the end of the programme will have the chance to win a range of prizes.
To register, visit travelweekly.co.uk/CelebrityForBeginners
Claire Stirrup, UK and Ireland sales director, said: “At Celebrity Cruises, we feel really passionate about putting agents first and at the heart of everything we do and their feedback is invaluable to us.
“A lot of agents would love to sell cruise but they don’t know where to begin, so based on our understanding of what new starters in the industry want or need, we have built a bespoke programme with the tools and resources that can support them.
“Whether agents are coming into the industry with or without experience, it is complex to book holidays of any type, so we want to make their lives as easy as possible by giving them all they need to make the process as smooth as possible.”
Agents who enrol in the Celebrity Cruises for Beginners campaign by April 19 will be entered into a prize draw to win one of 12 places across two Seminars at Sea in May for themselves and a colleague.
The first seminar will take place on a sailing from Amsterdam to Cork and the second from Cork to Belfast. Both will be on board Celebrity Apex and will give agents the chance to “touch and feel the Celebrity Cruises product, which is invaluable for securing sales”, Stirrup said.
Additionally, several of the agents who have signed up to the programme will be invited to a round-table discussion at Travel Weekly’s offices in London where they can tell the cruise line what they want from the programme and help shape the content.
“This is an exciting opportunity for agents to get their voice heard,” Stirrup said. “We want to get a mix of agents from the high street, luxury sector and consortia, and hear what they need as we want to support everyone.”
She added: “By the end of the campaign, we want to have equipped agents with everything they need to sell cruise and to have built up their confidence so they can develop their cruise client base.”
To register, visit travelweekly.co.uk/CelebrityForBeginners