I had this scheduled for Friday, but with so much attention on our good friend Andy Cauthen, I decided to bump this back until today.

That being said, this may not be “news” for many who follow the industry closely, but I still wanted to offer up how I perceive this news. For those of you who know poeple who always look at things in a negative light, you might consider making a push to contact these people now, before Carnival’s 5% price increase goes into effect on March 22nd.

According to Carnival’s Press Release:

Carnival Cruise Lines is reporting record wave season bookings, with strong reservations activity for 2010 departures.  As a result of the strong booking volumes, a general price increase will be implemented effective March 22 for all summer sailings in June, July and August.

For the period of Jan. 1 through Feb. 21, 2010, bookings were at unprecedented levels for the line’s 22 ships which operate three- to 15-day voyages from a variety of convenient North American home ports.

Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill said, “We’re seeing significantly increased volume as consumers are taking advantage of the incredible value that a Carnival cruise provides. And while pricing hasn’t fully recovered to 2008 levels, we are increasing prices and will implement an across-the-board increase effective March 22.”

He said that the price increases will vary by departure date but will be up to 5 percent.

Cahill attributed the record booking activity to a wide range of factors, including strong travel agent partner support, targeted marketing initiatives, itinerary enhancements and the wide variety of close-to-home departure points.

Wave season typically runs from about mid-January through early spring and is traditionally the busiest, most important booking period in the cruise industry.

Carnival Cruise Lines is the largest and most popular cruise line in the world, with 22 “Fun Ships” operating voyages ranging from three to 15 days in length to The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Canada, New England and Europe.

Carnival also has two new ships on order — the 130,000-ton Carnival Magic, which is scheduled for delivery in 2011, and a sister ship set to debut in 2012.

For additional information on the Carnival vacation experience, contact any travel agent, call 1-800-CARNIVAL or visit carnival.com.

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If by chance you’re thinking to yourself that I’ve lost my marbles over a price increase being “good news” you’ve missed some very key components to Carnival’s message.

Bookings are not only up, but at unprecedented levels. Yes, Carnival made many moves over the last year that helped attract customers, and I don’t want to discount how that played a major role. Cruise customers have seen some very attractive prices in the industry over the last year to 18 months, which some say they’ve not seen in over a decade. Now that the economy is turning around, travelers are once again booking vacations for the upcoming summer season. Because demand is high, the prices therefore go up.

To me, this is another sign that the travel industry is on the mend and it’s good for everyone who works in this industry.

I remember talking with George Dooley this summer before the Convention and the interview we had together. We were talking about how it took one and a half to two bookings to make the same amount of commission in years past because of the lower prices to attract customers. Our total number of booking was in fact up in 2009, but we didn’t reach the same level in commissions from years past due to the lower prices. We worked harder for less money.

It’s good to see prices on the rise again in that regard.

Could the price increase backfire on Carnival? Possibly – but even with a 5% increase, the lines pricing is still below other cruise lines who offer the same itineraries. What’s going to be interesting – or something to look for – is if other lines follow suit. I’m sure Cruise Industry is at least considering a similar move, and those that are showing the same unprecedented levels certainly will announce a price increase in the near future. Those that do, will be the ones to watch as the industry leaders showing the strongest bookings thus far in 2010.

For those that want the bargain basement prices, still have time over the next couple of weeks. If you have some loose ends and quotes out there now, as we do with Carnival, you’ll want to follow up with those people before March 22nd. That is, if you want to offer value to them as an Agent.

Take this as a sign that the industry is following right along with the economic recovery we’re seeing in other sectors – and recovery certainly is good news. Demand is up, and people are looking to take vacations this year.

It’s a much needed “wave” of revenue the industry needs right now.

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I wanted to post something on Friday concerning Travel Weekly’s Preview 2009 and one presentation in particular. Before I did however, I wanted to make sure that what I thought I heard and my notes from the presentation were in fact accurate. So I decided to hold off until I could listen in again with the On Demand feature which is available for the next 90 days.

It shouldn’t be that big of a guess that the one presentation I was interested in was Thursday’s “What Proves You are a Travel Pro”. Questions were asked by agent groups looking for answers from association heads about – you guessed it, “credentials” as they explored just who should be recognized as a travel agent, and who shouldn’t be.

The presentation was kicked off with a brief presentation by Bob Sharak from CLIA, Kelly Chiusano from OSSN, Scott Koepf from NACTA, and Bert Rivero from IATA as they clarified their roles in the industry.

After the overview presentations, the Q&A started with Kim Sorensen who asked the first question to the panel. The question can be summarized in two parts:

With the industry in “a perfect storm” with agents and agencies closing down, what are these associations doing to not only attract but train new blood that enters the industry? Secondly, what type of training, qualifications and documentation should an agency provide for the new blood in order to guide them to obtaining the roll as “Travel Professional”?

We’ve documented here before, fairly recently as a matter of fact, that the industry as it stands is struggling. I’ve written about Liberty Travel closing a number of its locations, and Cruise Value Center closing overnight without warning. Those that are left have resorted to embezzlement, and defrauding airlines to make ends meet. Even the current leader in the Travel Industry is looking for a $3.5 Billion bailout.

Based on what we’ve seen in recent weeks, any illusion that the traditional industry is doing well, is just that; an illusion.

There’s no question in my mind that the industry is in dire need of attracting not only new blood but new ideas into this industry. To be fair, it’s not that the industry hasn’t changed, although it appears to be with a considerable amount of resistance. The industry does eventually adapt. (As I suspect it will with MLM’s.) Scott Koepf did a great job in summarizing all the changes with the age of internet bookings, cruise only agents, and home based agents who were at first frowned upon and met with resistance. Today, these entities are not only accepted, but respected.

The face of the industry has also changed from being viewed as an “Agency” to that of an “Agent”. I’m often asked by Traditional Agents how I maintain any type of bookings with all the negativity critics produce about YTB. The answer is simple; the relationship is with me, not YTB. When clients look to make a booking, they look at me, not my host agency. Pricing, service, and professionalism are a direct reflection on me, not my agency. You might want to read Chris Andersons, “The Long Tail” for better clarification on how our entire capital structure is changing in this way. Another reason why I believe YTB and Network Marketing is on the right track.

Even with this shift in capitalism, Agents and Associations look to be more concerned with complaining and how companies like YTB make them look. More importantly as we’ve heard time and time again, is their illusion that we only get involved to take advantage of industry without giving back in the form of travel sales. The solution for them of course doesn’t rest on their shoulders, but on the suppliers themselves. It’s suppliers who ultimately decide just who they want to do business to produce income and gain market share.

Especially with the current economic conditions.

So how do these Associations help the new person who wants to get involved in the industry?

Bert Rivero (IATA) wouldn’t take any responsibility to ensure agents are trained properly. IATA is designed for those who have already acquired not only the knowledge, but skill set to sell a minimum amount of travel in a calendar year. IATA seems to be more interested in educating suppliers on how much money they’re loosing because of “card mills”.

Bert may need to take a lesson from Gerry Cahill with Carnival, who produced a very sound solution that was brought to light almost a year ago to curb this perceived problem of “card mills” taking advantage of FAM’s without giving back to the supplier. Of course, the relationship between YTB and Carnival has flourished, even with the new requirements, which doesn’t match IATA or the Travel Industry agenda.

Kelly Chiusano was much the same, in that OSSN really doesn’t have a current structure in place to guide, train or educate the new person who enters the industry. It’s up to the host to provide this type of training and education. She did mention that the larger host agencies did have training and education in place to help bring them into the fold and help them become a professional.

It wasn’t until we heard from Scott Koepf from NACTA who I think was the first to really understand the question in its entirety, and does provide both training and continuing education for those of us who aspire to become professionals in the industry. It looks as if YTB may be on the right track now that it has an entry level with Affiliates, Referring Travel Agent, and Travel Agent program in place. Each of the YTB levels produce a better understanding, better commission splits, and enhanced privileges within the industry.

CLIA, was by far the best equipped to answer this question, and Bob Sharak did an exceptional job of explaining how their association works hand in hand with host agencies and individuals to educate and train both the new recruit, but the seasoned professional in the industry. Not only does CLIA provide various training experiences, from on line to more intimate classroom training. CLIA provides various levels of qualifications starting with a brand new Associate Cruise Degree (ACD) along with various Cruise Counselor levels which stars with Accredited (ACC), to Master, (MCC) and even Elite (ECC) levels.

Like Carnival back in January, CLIA has come up with its own solution to the Agent ID cards with new requirements that include training and minimum booking requirements in order to obtain the privilege of carrying their credentials.

Instead of complimenting and giving CLIA credit for these new requirements, critics (as they always do) tend to twist and create problems within a solution, and are now obsessing over a loophole they claim to have found. Instead of highlighting the loophole from our critics, I would instead suggest that you chime into YTB who will be providing an overview of these new requirements with CLIA on tonight’s “Getting Started Call” with Jeannie Sharpless. This way you’ll be guided with an overview of how to qualify the right way. (If you miss the call, you can find it archived in your back office.)

By following the guidance of both CLIA and YTB, who knows, you too could qualify for that elusive roll as a “Travel Pro”.

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I posted last week about Carnival’s Q2 Earnings Report, and found another article in Travel Weekly this weekend which goes right to the man in charge and puts Gerry Cahill in the hot seat. We found last week that Carnival is doing less direct business and relying more on Travel Agents to keep them afloat during the wave of feul price increases and muddy waters concerning the travel industry as a whole.

If you’re in YTB, you know about the informative call we had at the beginning of June with J. Kim Sorensen, (President, YTB International and CEO, YTB Travel Network) and Mike Julius, (Regional Vice President of Carnival Cruise Lines) to kick off Carnival Month. Our RTA’s also found that Cruise Month has been extended with Carnival alongside a special booking contest that was kicked off with both Kim and Ann Sedgwick, (Business Development Director with Carnival Cruise Lines) with our widely popular Cruise Night last Thursday night and the “All About Cruising” DVD we all downloaded. (First prize will be an all expenses paid 12 Day Mediterranean Cruise with air.)

The strong foundation and technology YTB has invested into providing us the very best resources for those of us out in the field are second to none, and many outside of the company (aka: clients) found this form of getting everyone together not only exciting but a very successful way to promote cruise sales.

Just why Carnival would do something like this with YTB was found in the Q&A with Gerry Cahill when he stated: “They can help us on the marketing side. They can also have the ability to reach customers we don’t reach.”

With thousands of RTA’s getting just 3 or 4 couples together last week for this Cruise Night, Carnival had the ability to reach tens of thousands of potential customers all over the country at one time which Carnival may not have been able to reach otherwise.

Talk about bang for your buck! One night, one company and you cover North America, Canada and the Caribbean to boot.

It’s good to see that Gerry Cahill’s business decisions are starting to pay off, and it looks as if he certainly knows what he’s doing as he stated in the Travel Weekly article “It’s not hard to do. We have the ability to track how much profitability we get from every channel and every agent. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist for that one. I did an analysis of what I think are the most efficient ways for us to distribute things, and I made certain decisions as a result of that.”

With the Cruise Night from last year being revamped and redone to help Carnival stay profitable and keep their place as “The Most Popular Cruise Line in the World” YTB is producing large numbers for Carnival once again. Sure, last week was a little different, but the goal is the same, and that’s selling our core product with our preferred supplier who “gets it”. Terminating your relationship with a company the size of YTB can be detrimental to your business health, so you simply implement minimum booking requirements to answer the “critics” who claim all we do is take advantage of the product, while still saving your bottom line and working with a company who has been a Pinnacle Award winner the last three years in a row.

Not bad for a “bean counter” if you ask me, and certainly not what some had forecasted a few months ago.

Carnival has been a HUGE supporter of YTB from the very start, and I’m pleased that the new management sees the value in what we as a company has to offer.

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