January 2025
www.nitravelnews.com
Travel Counsellors appoints Ciara MacConnell as new Corporate Travel Manager
TRAVEL Counsellors Ireland have announced the appointment of Ciara MacConnell as their new Corporate Travel Manager. In this role, Ciara will oversee the delivery of highly personalised solutions for corporate business travel, supporting and advancing the work of the 85 Travel Counsellors in Ireland as they continue to expand the company’s corporate
travel offerings, Counsellors for Business.
Ciara brings over 25 years of travel industry experience to the role. Having joined Travel Counsellors in 2007, Ciara has held key roles with the Irish branch of the company — headquartered in Mahon, Cork — including Operations and Business Development
Travel Executive.
Commenting on her new position, Ciara MacConnell said: “I am thrilled to step into the role of Corporate Travel Manager, a role that allows me to expand our corporate business by sharing the incredible range of services Travel Counsellors offers as a Travel Management Company. Our corporate clients benefit from deeply personalised service and cutting-edge tools like myTC Locate, which provides real-time passenger tracking, risk alerts, and more. Supporting our Travel Counsellors in their business growth has been incredibly fulfilling, and I look forward to helping our clients achieve even greater success.”
Jonathan Adair features on episode of Jet2holidays’ Partners2Success! – LISTEN NOW on Spotify and Apple
TRADE NEWS | 63
CLIA Reveals Membership Benefits and Refreshed Events for 2025
FOLLOWING a record year in 2024, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has opened for 2025 membership in the UK & Ireland. Travel agents are being offered enhanced benefits including new events, new resources and the second wave of CLIA’s Expedition and River Cruise Champion Programmes. In addition to the chance to join the flagship RiverView Conference in March and CLIA Conference in May, CLIA is refreshing its events to meet the demands of the travel agent community and reflect the ongoing development of the wider industry. With an increasing cruise line membership, across all cruise sectors, CLIA is focusing on a diverse level of travel agent expertise, from new-to- selling to experts. May’s CLIA Conference will include an add-on event – the Expedition Summit – which will be an alternative to those joining the New to Selling Cruise event. Both are optional and will take place prior to the conference itself. The Expedition Champion and the River Champion hybrid learning programmes, new for autumn 2024, will get another outing in the second half of 2025 with a further intake of travel agent learners. And a brand-new, full day event – The
CLIA recently invited around 30 agents to its Belfast Dinner. Taking place in Malmaison Hotel, agents were joined by representatives from AE Expeditions, AmaWaterways,
Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal
Caribbean International and Virgin Voyages, to learn of industry updates regarding river, expedition and premium/contemporary cruising. The dinner allowed delegates to explore how their businesses can seize the cruise opportunity, through short product updates from attending suppliers.
JONATHAN Adair Managing Director of Northern Ireland Travel News fhas featured on an episode of Partners2Success with Jet2holidays &
Jet2.com General Manager Lloyd Cross!
Jonathan joins Lloyd to share how, nearly
35 years ago, they identified a need for a dedicated travel newspaper in Belfast, leading to the launch of Northern Ireland Travel News! Today, it continues to support travel
agents as strong as ever. Jonathan reflects on his love for Belfast, the value of travel agents, industry challenges, and the crucial role events play in the travel industry. Listen now across listening platforms- Spotify & Apple.
Art of Selling Cruises – scheduled for the summer, will provide an industry-wide day of support to agents who wish to grow cruise sales.
Members will also be able to – * Register for CLIA’s enhanced ‘Cruise Forum’ residential events, each with a different sector focus, covering river; expedition; luxury; and yacht, sailing, traditional and small ship cruising. * Access the trade section of CLIA’s website,
cruising.org, which includes new-to-selling resources, destination and itinerary experience factsheets, cruise line brand profiles, incentives and offers, and online training and certification * View CLIA’s virtual ship tours, an online library
featuring 25 videos
including ocean, river and expedition ships * Join and catch up on ‘CLIA Presents’ webinars, which offer cruise line brand updates; and a monthly ‘Focus On’ session, which looks at different sectors within the cruise market.
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