Porto was the focus of the cruise industry on May 24th, hosting the Porto & Douro Cruise Forum 2017, an event that brought together the local, national, and international cruise industry. The event was organized by Cruises News Media Group, an international consultancy specializing in the cruise industry and organizer of the International Cruise Summit.
The celebration of this event is the result of an initiative by Porto Cruise Terminal APDL and Via Navegavel Douro APDL, and was co-financed by the European Union. This forum took place at the Porto Cruise Terminal, located on the south shore of the Port of Leixões, an icon for the region and a work of great architectural value, a masterpiece that has completely transformed the entire coastline of Northern Portugal and has won several prestigious national and international architecture awards. A wonderful venue with views of a cruise ship docked throughout the event.
The event was opened by the President of APDL, the Mayor of Matosinhos and the President of the Commission for Regional Development and Coordination of Northern Portugal.
Emílio Brógueira Dias, President of the Port Authority of Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo, said, “We are newcomers to the cruise industry, but we have been growing in recent years,” a fact corroborated by Helena Gomes, Commercial and Marketing Manager of the Port Authority, with figures such as a 74% growth in cruise passengers since 2010. Fernando Freire de Sousa, President of the Commission for Regional Development and Coordination of Northern Portugal, added, “Cruises help us achieve the macroeconomic objectives of the region and the country.”.
Alfredo Serrano, National Director of CLIA, offered an overview of the state of the global cruise industry, forecasting 25.3 million passengers for 2017, a 4.5% increase over the previous year. Luis de Carvalho, CEO of BA Europe, gave a presentation on Portugal's position in international itineraries and affirmed that, particularly in Porto, cruise passengers rate their satisfaction above their pre-visit expectations.
The first two panel discussions were about Portugal as a cruise destination and as a source of cruise passengers respectively, and featured some of the most important representatives of cruise companies, shore excursions and shipping agencies.
In the first panel, Pullmantur expressed passenger satisfaction with the stops in Lisbon and Porto, but Alessandro Carollo, Head of Port Operations at Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, emphasized the need to expand the facilities to accommodate larger ships in the future. Helena Gomez responded that the Port Authority of Lisbon (APDL) has a strategic plan for the next 10 years to address these issues.
In the debate about Portugal as a source market, the second panel pointed out the handicap that passengers from this country must fly practically before each cruise, which makes the product more expensive and the socioeconomic level of Portuguese passengers would then be a little higher than in other markets.
The importance of properly developing a good source market was highlighted, as this results in an increase in cruise port calls and round-trip, for which it is necessary to educate travel agencies that cruises have the best value for money of all vacation options.
The third panel on river cruises in Portugal showed that river cruises do not pose a threat of overcrowding on the Douro River, given that it is still considered by many to be the "last virgin river in Europe" because of its natural landscape and that not many cargo ships operate on it.
Both Porto and the Douro River are still largely unknown, and it is necessary to improve promotion in Portugal and Spain to attract passengers from closer locations.
In the last panel, companies involved in tourism, such as wineries and museums, called for efforts to reduce the seasonality of river cruises.
Both the organizers and the promoters highlighted the possibility of turning this forum into an annual event as a tool for disseminating knowledge, promoting the destination, and evaluating its development.
At the end of the event, the organizers offered wine to all attendees on the terrace of the cruise terminal.
