The travel adviser of tomorrow will be fluent in artificial intelligence, sharply focused on clients and confident about commercial outcomes, but above all, human.
That was the message from Peter Little, Chairman of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Australasia, addressing a record audience of more than 850 travel advisers at CLIA’s conference in Sydney.
The gathering is taking place under the theme “Future Ready. Client Ready. Cruise Ready.”
“Today is about insights. Today is about inspiration and giving you all a sense of purpose to fuel that future success that we see is really there and is within reach. You are all well placed to be able to unlock that that growth potential,” said Mr Little.
“So what does the adviser of tomorrow look like? The best‑placed advisers will be artificial intelligence aware, client focused and, importantly, commercially confident, but you also need to remain deeply human.
“That human interaction is so important. You know that in your day to day business – being able to speak at a human level with your clients means better outcomes for the clients and better outcomes for yourself.”
Mr Little (above) used his address to underline the scale of the adviser network now sitting behind the cruise sector in Australia and New Zealand. CLIA’s accredited community has grown to 7,000 travel advisers across the region – a record high.
“It’s testament to the continuing value of professional, knowledgeable advisers, which is so important when we’re in the business of generating demand,” he said.
“And you, as travel advisers, are absolutely the most important part of our industry’s distribution chain. I can’t say that strongly enough.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to enrich the lives of others through travel and specifically enrich the lives of others through cruise travel.”
Mr Little said investment in CLIA’s training and accreditation programs reflected the importance of “making sure that you have all the tools and the ability to get the right people on the right ships.”
He pointed to record attendance at CLIA Live events across the region, record nominations for the annual CLIA Awards and a CLIA Masters program that is consistently fully subscribed.
“S0 why does CLIA matter? CLIA matters because cruising presents enormous opportunities across the region, but it comes with challenges.
“We need a really strong voice in CLIA to ensure we continue to promote cruising and make sure that we have the settings in place to be able to enable growth.
“We must overcome all of these challenges that we face to share in the in the prosperity that’s being seen elsewhere in the world.”
