PHOTO: CLIA president and CEO Christine Duffy.

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has revamped its membership program in a way designed to better meet the changing needs of today’s travel agents. It went into effect Oct. 1.

Most travel counselors belong to a host agency, consortium or franchise network, so the revised structure created a new Premium Diamond membership level for those large organizations.

At the same time, individual agents who belong to those retail organizations can join CLIA for as little as $49. Independent small agencies that are not affiliated can still join at $339 and get one individual agent membership for $49 and up to 23 memberships for $99 each.

What’s important, though, is that individual agents who join get their own membership number and ID card, as well as a new package of perks from cruise lines.

Vacation Agent spoke with CLIA president and CEO Christine Duffy about the new membership structure. The interview here has been edited for clarity and space.

Why did CLIA feel the need to change its membership system?

If you look at CLIA — and, next year, it will be 40 years old — we’re moving from what was set up from the beginning as an agency membership organization. So if your travel agency joined, you put a blue sticker in the window and people came into the agency to do training for your agents. If you go forward to where we are today, those storefronts don’t exist the way they did back then. Most agents are working from home, affiliated with host agencies or consortia. What we’re really doing here is establishing a stronger value proposition for individual travel agents to join CLIA so we know who you are and we can provide you with training.

Does the new structure make it easier for individual cruise counselors to join CLIA?

We have created a different segmentation in our agency membership. Prior to Oct. 1, travel agencies that joined CLIA all paid the same amount ($339) whether they were an agency with two agents or an agency with 1,000 agents.

Up until now, the value proposition for an individual agent to join CLIA outright was primarily to enroll in CLIA certification, and not every travel agent was prepared to make that commitment. If they were not ready to commit to certification, there were no benefits or special recognition or rewards for individual agents to join.

What are the rewards and recognition under the new program?

Every membership level includes access to CLIA training to increase product knowledge, marketing and sales skills, and professional image and standing.

Now, for the first time, we have packages of incentives and benefits valued at more than $5,000 exclusive to CLIA agent members from 25 cruise lines. Each cruise line customized a package for its brand. Many cruise lines are offering $50 bonus commissions that go directly to the individual agent versus the agency. Some cruise lines are offering shipboard credits to agents when they take their cruise vacation. Some are offering seminars at sea, reduced-rate cruises, onboard recognition, coupons for upgrades and ship credits. One line is offering a free Caribbean cruise each quarter as a raffle prize eligible to agents who receive certification in that quarter.

Did you work with the large agent organizations on the changes?

We worked on it for 18 months. We had more than 85 meetings and focus groups to ensure we were engaging all the appropriate people who have a vested interest in CLIA and the success of the individual agents.

So the major travel agent organizations have joined as Premium Diamond members?

Host agencies and consortia representing more than 50,000 agents have signed on as Premium Diamond members. These include Avoya Travel, Cruise Planners, CruiseOne, Cruises Inc., Ensemble Travel Group, Expedia CruiseShipCenter, Mtravel/Montrose Travel, Nexion, Oasis/Palm Coast Travel, Signature Travel Network, Travel Planners International, Uniglobe, Vacation.com and Virtuoso.

How have individual agents responded?

CLIA headquarters received about 1,000 phone calls from agents on the first day the membership program launched. That says the model resonates. I was really excited to see those numbers.