Page 109 - SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2016

YOU CUSTOMERS 109

GROWING TOGETHER

WITH OUR BUSINESS PARTNERS

Our 38,000 partner travel agencies Meanwhile, the Agorà Project, launched platform provides access to useful and “Shore calling Ship”.
located in 70 countries worldwide in Italy in 2015 and subsequently extended innovative tools for customer profi ling A chance for professional enrichment
are often the fi rst point of contact for to France, was used to collect feedback and the identifi cation of potential.
customers and help them opt for the from our most important partners The motto “Shore calling ship” accompanied 200 Sales Agents
solution that best matches their demands. internationally, this being essential for Support for local travel agencies is vital from Italy, Spain, France, Benelux and New Markets during a
For this reason the relationship with the the continuous innovation of the product. for the defi nition of hospitality programs one-off training session held on board Costa ships. The aim was
travel agent is vitally important and needs In 2016 a panel consisting of our main for people with disabilities and the to let participants fi nd out more about the product and, above all,
to be cultivated all the time in order to French distributors met to exchange development of accessible tourism. By have a close encounter with the professionalism of our shipboard
build trust and share the objective of ideas and opinions regarding the product providing accessible cruise ships for personnel and appreciate the complexity of the business. This was
value creation. and trends in the industry. This kind of passengers with disabilities or reduced an itinerant, interactive and dynamic form of training designed to
convey Costa’s commitment to service excellence: a hands-on group
The Costa Sales Academy on Board structured meeting helps strengthen mobility, we are demonstrating our experience alongside our staff on board. The ship visit was a tour
provides travel agents with specifi c the ties between Costa Cruises and its commitment to ensuring that all citizens of discovery of what goes on “behind the scenes”, including a look
training in sales techniques and the latest partner travel agents, whose experience can exercise their right to freedom of inside the cabins and in the diff erent public spaces; the idea was to
product news, partly conveyed online is a precious asset to be capitalized on movement equitably. One example is our communicate naturally the quality of the service off ered and the
by the web platform Costa extra, the by means of a proactive approach to partnership with the Spanish Deaf-Blind awareness of everything that a Costa holiday represents in terms
biggest Italian online business community development. In order to provide concrete Association, Asociación de Sordociegos of emotion and memorable experience. Participating Sales Agents,
in the travel industry, for agencies in Italy, support for the development of business de Castilla y León. Together, we chose already experts in assessing customers’ expectations and tourism
plus France and Spain, allowing users to intelligence and enhance constructive the Costa Diadema to host a made-to- industry trends, soaked up the ambiance of a cruise and honed their
exchange information in real time and two-way dialogue with the travel measure experience for 24 travelers interpersonal skills through greater awareness of our continuously
benefi t from mutual learning. At the agencies, in 2016 the Company launched requiring accessibility features and evolving product and market. This type of training arouses the
same time, the use of webinars on the the innovative CostaNext program. The specifi c services and facilities. interest of Sales Agents and helps bridge the gap between ‘shore’
platform means less travel for our sales result of a substantial investment as well and ‘ship’. We intend to arrange further initiatives of this kind for
force, which cuts costs and also helps as complex analysis and research for these highly strategic stakeholders.
reduce emissions. the management of large data sets, this