The 59th MedCruise General Assembly, held in Barcelona, Spain, elected Ms. Figen Ayan, Director of Ports at Galataport Istanbul, as the new President of the Association that represents ports and stakeholders in the cruise business in the Mediterranean and its adjacent seas.
Born in Paris, Figen Ayan holds both French and Turkish citizenship. She studied and graduated with a degree in Modern Languages from the Sorbonne – Paris IV in 1994. Since February 2014, she has served as Port Director at Galataport Istanbul. A licensed professional tour guide in French and English, she has been certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism since 1997. Since 2011, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of MedCruise, the international association representing 140 cruise ports in 21 countries in the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. She began her career in the cruise industry in 1994 with ITS (International Travel Services) and continued her tourism career in 1999 with Tura Tourism as Director for the Aegean region. Subsequently, she was Director of Marketing and Communications at Global Investment Holdings until 2005. For a period of six months, Ayan worked at Arkas-MSC as Director of Port Management for Turkey. In 2006, she returned to Global Investment Holdings' subsidiary, Global Ports Holding, as Marketing Director for the cruise ports of Kusadasi, Bodrum, and Antalya. She actively contributed to the company's Business Development department in acquiring and adding the cruise ports of Barcelona, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal, to its portfolio.
He succeeds Aris Batsoulis, Head of Technical Services and Director of Development – PFSO of the Corfu Port Authority, who will continue to serve the Association as Honorary President – thanked by the new President for his contribution to the success of MedCruise over the past few years.
“I love the cruise industry for its resilience, creativity, openness, and many other reasons I’ve learned over my 27-year career. Therefore, it is a true honor and privilege to represent 140 boutique and marquise cruise ports from 21 countries in the Mediterranean and its adjacent seas as President of the MedCruise Association for the 2021-2024 term,” said Figen Ayan after her election.
Figen Ayan continued, stating that “it is even more valuable to have 12 Boards of Directors represented by Francesca Antonelli, Lorenzo Vera, Aris Batsoulis, Silvia Coppolino, Cristina De Gregori, Aziz Gungor, Valeria Mangiarotti, Doru Mihai, Jamil Ouazzani, Theodora Riga, Anne-Marie Spinosi, and Elisa Zamora, who have dedicated their knowledge and professionalism to the growth of the cruise industry and MedCruise over the years.
Together with the MedCruise Board of Directors, we are here to be the bridge between cruise lines and cruise ports or destinations.
As members of MedCruise, we are a strong and beautiful mosaic of cultures and civilizations that subtly, profoundly, and humbly shape the cruise industry. As the new President of the MedCruise Association, I am delighted and eager to begin working with the board, the port, and our member associations. Let's create an epic story together! Our diversity is our strength.
MedCruise also elected the members of its Board of Directors (BoD) for the 2021-2021 term. The members of the new Board are:
- Francesca Antonelli, elected as principal vice president (Valencia, Spain),
- Lorenzo Vera, elected as vice president (Motril-Granada, Spain),
- Aris Batsoulis, (Corfu, Greece), Silvia Coppolino (Taranto, Italy), Cristina De Gregori (Genoa-Savona, Italy), Aziz Gungor (Kusadasi-Bodrum, Turkey), Valeria Mangiarotti (Ports of Sardinia, Italy), Doru Mihai (Constantza, Romania), Jamil Ouazzani (Tangier, Morocco), Theodora Riga (Thessaloniki, Greece), Anne-Marie Spinosi (Ports of Bastia-Northern Corsica, France), Elisa Zamora (Ports of Tenerife, Spain).
- Aimilia Papachristou is reappointed as Secretary General of the Association.
