Why Use A Travel Agent, Just Ask Carnival
Adolfo Perez doesn’t wear his commitment to travel agents on his sleeve.
He wears it under his sleeve.
Perez, senior vice-president, global sales and trade marketing for Carnival Cruise Line, sports a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads Travel Agents Rock, underscoring his belief in the importance of the travel agency community, a belief on display in Toronto on Wednesday
when the cruise company held one of the four Why Use A Travel Advisor campaign events it’s hosting in North America this year.
The events are for agents, their clients and “soon-to-be clients” and are as seen as a way of enhancing the importance of agents among the public.
“We’re on this mission to make sure everyone knows travel advisers still exist. We’re proud to get that word out…,” Perez told his Toronto audience.
“Thank you for all you do. You really make a difference in people’s lives.”
Perez – at a festive event that drew 300 people and featured the likes of a “Genius Bar” where Carnival staffers answered questions visitors had – said he frequently encounters people who are surprised that travel agents still exist, and he responds “why wouldn’t you use a free personal assistant. We [Carnival] decided that we would help get the word out [that travel agents are still here].”
The line also premiered the latest endeavor in the Why Use A Travel Advisor campaign — a five-part video series featuring travel agents and their clients sharing travel tales that tell the “WUATA story.”
The videos are available on the WUATA Facebook page and Carnival’s WUATA.com website, which also features a click-to-share tool that travel agents can use to send the videos directly to clients.
The yearlong campaign features WUATA Party events, WUATA.com, a WUATA brochure, a WUATA Facebook page, social media promotions, contests, exclusive merchandise, giveaways and WUATA Word, a crowdsourced word cloud that grows as the movement expands. Tools are available on GoCCL.com to help travel agents spread the word to existing and potential clients.
