WASHINGTON — CLIA has renewed its certification programs, which are designed to help travel agents elevate their business to the next level at every stage of their career.

Enhancements include updates to CLIA’s existing Accredited Cruise Counsellor (ACC), Master Cruise Counsellor (MCC) and Elite Cruise Counsellor (ECC) certifications. Plus, there’s a new certification – Certified Cruise Counsellor (CCC) – for travel agents who are starting or exploring a career in travel.

The new certification programs are part of CLIA’s ‘Career Seascape’, a one-stop professional development platform. The platform offers a variety of formats to make learning opportunities customized and convenient for travel agents to polish their skills and become certified, including live instructor-led training and seminars, online courses, webinars and events.

“There is no better way for travel agents to elevate their personal and professional brand within the cruise industry than to earn a CLIA certification,” Stephani E.D. McDow, director, membership and professional development, CLIA. “Education is a key component to creating a successful business, and these updated programs are based on feedback gathered from our travel agent community.”

In addition to the certification programs, CLIA launched certificate programs that allow certified travel agents to specialize in certain topics. For example, the ‘Meetings & Events at Sea’ certificate focuses on educating travel agents about the benefits of hosting events and groups on cruise ships.

CLIA Individual Agent Members are able to take advantage of the new training opportunities at one of the many upcoming 2016 events, including: Boston Certified Cruise Counsellor Event (Sept. 23-24); Destination Summit: Puerto Rico (Sept. 29-Oct. 2); Meetings & Events at Sea DC (Oct. 1); cruisExcellence Atlanta (Aug. 6); cruisExcellence New York (Aug. 20); and cruisExcellence Toronto (Sept. 10).

To learn more about Career Seascape go to cruising.org/travel-agent/professional-development-training.