President's Message
Nine percent growth from one year to the next.

Cruise Lines Live or Die
by Travel Agents
By Gary M. Fee, OSSN President

Nine percent growth from one year to the next.

That's the story in the cruise line industry, as OSSN members and other professional travel agents around North America sell millions of dollars in cruises every single day of the year.

While the major U.S. airlines cut agent commissions in the mid-1990s -- and, as a result, destroyed their ability to control their pricing and their profit margins -- the world's cruise lines continue enjoying record sales based on the hard work of agents like you.

The numbers from CLIA tell the whole story. As half of America's airline inventory sits in bankruptcy today, CLIA cruise lines report carrying 9.4 percent more North American passengers for the first six months of 2005 compared to the same period last year (4.73 million, versus 4.33 million).

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