CLIA And MCIA Sign MoU To Drive Cruise Education In Malaysia

Cruise industry body Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Asia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Malaysia Cruise Industry Association (MCIA), to jointly drive cruise education and awareness in Malaysia.

cruise ship 2 — Representation Image – Credits: Sudhai Hazell

According to the CLIA’s Asia Cruise Trends 2018 report, Malaysia cruise source passenger count saw an impressive 88 per cent year on year growth in 2017. The cruise penetration rate in Malaysia is however still comparatively low at less than 0.6 per cent.

“CLIA Asia’s mandate is to provide essential training, resources and support to travel agents in the region. Globally, we see that cruise markets with the highest market penetration have the most “cruise educated” travel agents.” Mr Joel Katz, CLIA Australasia & Asia Managing Director said. “Partnering with MCIA provides us with a great opportunity to equip their members with further skills to promote and sell cruise holidays to consumers.”

MCIA, as the national cruise tourism industry association in Malaysia, will leverage on CLIA’s expertise to educate their travel agent members and raise the profile of cruise tourism.

“Cruise has seen tremendous growth and interest in Malaysia, and our members are keen to market and sell more cruise holidays. MCIA is fully committed to enhance, develop and support the cruise industry and we look forward to working with CLIA to bring cruise tourism in Malaysia to greater heights.” Dato Rashid Khan, President, MCIA said.

Reference: cruising.org