Costa Cruises awarded Karen Zients, a travel agent with The Cruise People in Coral Springs, Florida, a brand new Vespa in honor of her being the 60th graduate of our new Costa Online Sales Training Academy (C.O.S.T.A). Newly appointed Vice President of Sales, Scott Knutson, presented Zients with the Vespa alongside Bill Dwyer, Director of Field Sales and Beth Cohen-Knott, Business Development Manager for our Broward County, Florida region.

Since launching in May, nearly 1,000 travel agents have graduated from C.O.S.T.A. Agents who completed their degree after studying seven in-depth chapters were automatically entered to win the Vespa. We chose the 60th graduate as a winner in honor of our 60th anniversary in 2008.

“We’re extremely excited with the tremendous response we’ve had to C.O.S.T.A. and the commitment to learning more about our brand that our travel agent partners have shown,” said Knutson. “Learning more about how to sell our unique, Italian product is just another way travel agent partners may distinguish themselves as experts to their clients. We congratulate Karen on graduating and winning her new Vespa.”

Graduating from C.O.S.T.A. comes with a host of rewards for travel agents including a three percent bonus commission for one year after graduation (not to exceed 17 percent commission), five CLIA certification credits, the opportunity to earn 3.5 CEUs for agents participating in The Travel Institute’s certification program,  a C.O.S.T.A. Specialist Diploma and Logo and a chance to win a cruise for two on one of Costa’s inaugural cruises in 2009 aboard either the Costa Pacifica or Costa Luminosa. Travel agents may register for C.O.S.T.A. by visiting www.travelagentacademy.com/Costa/index.html.

For more information on C.O.S.T.A., travel agents may contact Sales Support at sales@us.costa.it or (800) 327-2537.