The event will take place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam next year, followed by a sailing on the Mekong River for travel agents.

The announcement was made at the Clia Conference today.

The inaugural Asia event will begin on April 10 2018, with the sailing departing on April 12.

Further details will be announced when registration opens this summer.

Clia member travel agents will be able to take advantage of a trade fair and conference sessions, which will focus on identifying potential river cruise customers and learning more about the wide variety of experiences offered on a river cruise holiday, and particularly around the cruise holiday choices in Asia.

Andy Harmer, senior vice-president membership and director, Clia UK & Ireland said: "In 2016 the cruise sector saw an 11% rise in the number of UK passengers taking a river cruise holiday.

“With a whole host of state of the art ships launching last year and another 13 ships on their way in 2017, not to mention the wide variety of excursions and on board amenities including, pools, cinemas and cookery schools on offer, agents selling cruise can really benefit from the variety of holiday choices on offer for their customers.”

Also announced was a ‘Do Something New’ trade campaign.

Throughout June agents and trade partners are being encouraged to share their ‘first time’ cruise experiences.

It could be a picture of them in an iconic port, on a new ship or trying out an onboard restaurant the first time.

Agents simply need to tweet their experience using #dosomethingnew for the chance to win prizes throughout June.

Those not on Twitter can email brightideas@cruising.org to be entered into the competition.

Clia is also encouraging agents to ‘Do Something New’ to develop and grow their own knowledge of the cruise holiday experiences on offer.

There are a host of dedicated training and events on offer from Clia.

Also announced at today’s event were further details regarding the inaugural travel agent event Cruise360, which takes place in Copenhagen.

Following the theme of ‘Discover Together’ and with a focus on destinations and the industry’s land-based experiences, the event will discuss the importance of destination knowledge in cruise sales, and review some of the major cruise destinations.

Within the conference sessions held on-board Regal Princess and Norwegian Getaway, the event will welcome some of the cruise industry’s most prominent destination experts including Robin West, the expedition team leader for Seabourn, and Peter Kollar, head of international training and development at Clia.

The conference will welcome industry leaders Stuart Leven – vice-president EMEA and managing director RCL Cruises Ltd and chair of Clia UK & Ireland; and Kyriakos Anastassiadis – chief executive of Celestyal Cruises and chair of Clia Europe.

The inaugural European event will be held in Copenhagen on September 9-11 and will also feature ‘Cruise Sales Masterclass’ learning programmes, where three of the sessions will also focus on ‘destination’.

The Masterclass courses will provide information and new skills for agents to enhance their cruise sales. The course themes will include, selling destinations, marketing and sales techniques.

An optional ship visit on-board Regent Seven Seas Explorer is available on September 8 for agents arriving in Copenhagen the day before.