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Carnival's Freed Expresses Support for All "Agents"
Published on: November 2, 2007


Carnival Cruise Lines' Vicki Freed said in her weblog that Carnival supports all travel agents that generate sales -- even those that others allege are members of so-called card mills. Freed, Carnival's senior vice president of sales and guest services, responded to a posting from a travel agent on the blog that questioned her apparent support of YTB International, which provides web-based services for travel sellers. Royal Caribbean International recently said it considers YTB a "card mill" and terminated contracts with the organization. Meanwhile, Freed's photo appears in a BizReport at www.ytb.com. The posting, from an agent identified only as "Heather," alleged that YTB is not in the travel business and only sells websites and secures reduced rate travel.

On her blog, Freed responded: "Your statement of YTB not being in the business of selling travel is interesting because our revenue production suggests differently. It has been published that they sold over $13 million of business with another cruise line and I can assure you that we also have millions of dollars in cruise revenue generated as well." Freed said she attended YTB's conference in early October and saw more than 1,000 attendees in each educational forum. "The desire to learn about the travel business was evident even after I spoke to the general session (over 6,000 attendees) when the CLIA instructor followed me on stage and taught niche marketing," Freed wrote. "No one left the room, and in fact, the overflow ballroom with big screens set up was packed as well. These folks paid for the conference, and there were no free meals or give-aways."

Freed also said she gained a different view of the YTB agents. "For the most part, they are not the traditional travel agent but a part-time agent that is focused in on being a Pied Piper for group business," she wrote. "They call themselves RTAs or Referring Travel Agents." Freed went on to discuss the differences between companies like YTB and host agencies. "I know the argument may be that an average sales-volume-per-member may not be that meaningful," she wrote. "But, truthfully, we have many of models in our database -- including traditional -- that are not solid producers. In fact 60 percent of our travel agencies produce less than 10 guests per year." For more information, visit www.vickilovestravelagents.com.



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