The opportunities and challenges facing the industry have been discussed.
The new platforms offer unique opportunities for participation.
CLIA, the association representing the global cruise industry, has demonstrated its commitment to actively working with ports and destinations by creating a platform where the industry can exchange ideas and opportunities and find solutions to the challenges ahead. To this end, the Port & Destination Summit 2014 took place today at the Hilton Hotel in Barcelona, just one day before the city hosts the Seatrade Med Cruise Convention.
With a new and innovative format, this summit today hosted a series of roundtables, presentations, and simultaneous sessions, bringing together 170 delegates from 30 countries, primarily representatives of port authorities, destinations, shore excursion operators, and port agents, as well as 30 senior executives from cruise lines. Participants had a unique opportunity to interact and establish business relationships with cruise line executives at the highest level.
Christine Duffy, CLIA President and CEO, and Howard Frank, CLIA Global Chairman, gave the welcoming remarks, focusing on the need for cruise lines, ports and destinations, which face common challenges, to continue working and growing together.
Christine Duffy, President and CEO of CLIA, stated:
“With the global cruise industry experiencing strong year-over-year growth, CLIA member companies are continually launching new and exciting itineraries around the world. For us, it is vitally important to engage with the ports and destinations our ships visit. Today’s summit serves as a platform for the industry to foster high-level discussion on the shared opportunities and challenges we face, while also strengthening relationships between cruise lines, ports, destinations, and service providers.”.
Giora Israel, Senior Vice President of Global Ports and Destinations Development at Carnival Corporation and Chairman of the Global Ports and Destinations Committee, highlighted:
“We are very pleased with the outcome of today’s Port & Destination Summit. This new platform, driven by CLIA cruise line members, has given all stakeholders a unique opportunity to engage in key topics during dedicated sessions. Thanks to the new format we implemented, participants were able to engage in open dialogue with leading cruise line executives. The issues of greatest importance to cruise ports and destinations were central to the agenda, with the aim of further strengthening the relationship between ports, destinations, and cruise lines.”.
Meanwhile, Bo Larsen, CLIA's Global Director of Ports and Business Development, added:
“The main topics discussed today included port infrastructure, destination development, and route planning. We have compiled the information received during today’s sessions, and in the coming months, the CLIA and Europe Ports & Destinations committees will use this information to focus our work on the areas most relevant to our partners. Next year, we will hold another Port & Destination Summit and will seek to expand this program to other regions of the world.”.
