News: Get Ready For Plan a Cruise Month This October
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is pushing the boat out in 2016 and is going big with Plan a Cruise Month, launching on 1st October 2016. This worldwide campaign will help put cruise in the spotlight, showcasing the thousands of worldwide destinations and variety of experiences that can be discovered whilst on a cruise.
The brief has evolved from previous years; formerly CLIA ran activity over the course of a week, but with nearly 1.8 million people choosing a cruise in 2015 in the UK alone; the association recognised a need to expand activity to cover a whole month, from 1 – 31 October.
The overarching aim of Plan a Cruise Month is to create a campaign that connects with all cruise touchpoints, from travel agents, cruise lines, industry partners and consumers; to help promote positive awareness of cruise holiday. The trade in particular has a huge influence in the cruise industry and inevitably will be significant in the roll out of the campaign. To help get those from the travel front line involved CLIA has created a series of agent focused initiatives.
Agents will have access to a choice of value added offers from CLIA cruise line members. Available from 1st October, special offers will suit a variety of clients, including those taking their first cruise and returning cruise customers.
On social media, CLIA wants the trade to be part of the Plan a Cruise Month conversation. The association is asking all of its partners to tweet their favourite cruise place on Monday 3rd October between 2pm - 4pm using the hashtag #CruiseMonth. This could be a specific town or city, island, region or attraction.
There’s also the chance for the trade to meet with the CLIA team in advance of the official launch date on 1st October. The team will be on the road from 23 – 30 September, visiting ports and cities across the UK, from Kirkwall right down to Portsmouth. Agents can follow the progress of the CLIA team on social media and on the CLIA website at cruiseexperts.org
To ensure agents are fully equipped CLIA will provide an online toolkit, to aid partners with their communication efforts.
For more information about cruising and all Plan a Cruise Month activities, visit http://www.cruiseexperts.org/new-to-cruise/plan-a-cruise-month/ and don’t forget to get tweeting #CruiseMonth #MyHoliday