Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) January 15, 2014

World Travel Holdings, the world's leading cruise agency and award-winning leisure travel company, announces that its home-based division, comprised of CruiseOne and Cruises Inc., achieved many notable accomplishments in 2013. From CruiseOne reaching the 800th franchise milestone to both brands expanding their marketing programs; launching innovative technological developments; enhancing their training programs; and winning prestigious awards such as the Small Business Influencer Awards, South Florida Business Journal CIO Awards, Women in Ecommerce Golden Mouse Awards and G.I. Jobs Military Friendly Franchise to name a few, the home-based travel companies experienced unprecedented growth.

CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. are essential to the overall success of World Travel Holdings and they were substantial drivers in being named by both Royal Caribbean and Norwegian as their respective Partners of the Year. I am pleased that we were able to prevail and have an impressive year, despite the challenges to the industry, said Brad Tolkin, Co-Chairman / CEO for World Travel Holdings. To win the highest recognition from two of the three largest cruise lines serving the North American market is a validation of the incredible team our organization has and the success of our partnership with our valued cruise line partners. We are thankful for all of the hard work and dedication displayed by our wonderful network of CruiseOne owners and Cruises Inc. agents and look forward to even greater success in 2014.

Sales CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. experienced double-digit sales growth year over year in 2013 as a result of more resources than ever available to vacation specialists, ensuring their ongoing success. These resources included new technology platforms and programs; increased local, national and web-based marketing efforts; and more training opportunities than ever before both in-person and online.

Technology The award-winning information technology team has its eye on the future and in 2013 developed mobile websites for CruiseOne and Cruises Inc., enabling consumers to connect and engage with an agent regardless of time and location. CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. agents will experience even greater technological gains in 2014 as a result of a recently announced half million dollar incremental investment in new resources by parent company World Travel Holdings. We pride ourselves on being the best in travel and this new investment will be 100 percent focused on delivering the tools needed to drive our continued success for our CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. brands, shared Tolkin.

Marketing The innovative marketing team at CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. provides its vacation specialists with access to large-scale initiatives. In 2013 an investment was made in a new in-house digital marketing team to manage paid search and lead generation through web advertising for CruiseOne franchise owners. Additionally, we launched a video asset sharing program that provided franchisees access to professional videos which they could personalize and use on television, at special events and on the web. Finally, an email marketing tool was launched that enables work-from-home travel agents with both brands to send professional news updates to their existing databases; and a new custom niche website program enables travel franchise owners to create websites to support their focus to a specific niche.

As the only travel franchise system to offer a field marketing team dedicated to providing local marketing support to individual franchise owners, in 2013 CruiseOne expanded the program to the Northeast and now covers more than 60 pecent of the U.S.

Recruitment The network development team at CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. is pleased to report that both brands continue to gain in size by nearly 10 percent year over year, with CruiseOne reaching the 800th franchise milestone and experiencing a 93.3 percent retention rate among current owners. The brands also implemented two successful programs targeting military veterans and educators. For the second year in a row, CruiseOne received more than 300 entries from 40 different states for its Operation Vetrepreneur: Become Your Own General Contest, which awards five military veterans with travel franchises. Cruises Inc. celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week in May by awarding five current, laid-off or retired educators with home-based travel business opportunities.

Training CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. offer year-round continuing education courses through online and in-person training sessions, arming vacation specialists with unparalleled knowledge of cruise lines and resort vacations, destinations, niche specialties and more. A new enhancement to the training program in 2013 was the addition of The Learning Center, an online learning management system providing new and seasoned vacation specialists easy access to more than 10 certification programs and in excess of 400 training modules for product, sales skills and marketing, as well as introductory-level refresher classes for all work-from home travel agents with CruiseOne and Cruises Inc.

2013 also saw record-breaking attendance at five regional trainings throughout the U.S. where CruiseOne franchise owners and Cruises Inc. affiliates learned tips on how to continue expanding their business by attending educational presentations on marketing, sales and technology from the corporate headquarters team and networking with each other and industry executives. With last years regional training attendees experiencing a 23 percent increase in sales, 2014 is poised to be the most well-attended yet, with trainings scheduled in New Orleans (Jan. 31-Feb. 1), Fort Lauderdale (March 28-29) , Boston (May 16-17), Indianapolis (July 25-26) and San Diego (Sept. 19-20). In November, more than 800 work-from-home agents will convene onboard the Regal Princess for the 2014 CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. National Conference, which is the only annual conference in the industry to be held for a full week at sea.

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World Travel Holdings’ Home-Based Division Experiences Double-Digit Increase in 2013