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MedCruise News September 2015 Issue 49 MedCruise News pg. 1-3 Port facilities & Destinations pg. 4-13 Cruise Lines pg. 14-15 List of MedCruise pg. 16 Members nce again MedCruise, the Association of The Association itself will maintain its own Hatzakos under his capacity as President of Mediterranean Cruise Ports, is present stand. Operated by the MedCruise secretariat, the Cruise & Ferry Port Network, ESPO and with a stand at the Seatrade Europe this stand will provide the opportunity to General Manager of Piraeus Port Authority SA OCruise & River Cruise Convention, taking place several of its port members and their will be providing a view from the 9-11 September 2015 in Hamburg, Germany. associates to be present at the exhibition and Mediterranean as a speaker in the conference, The extended list of MedCruise members not least hold fruitful business-to-business shaping discussions in the ‘Understanding the exhibiting at Seatrade Europe 2015 includes the meetings. In line with the MedCruise tradition, Cruise Industry: How Can the Pan European ports of Azores, French Riviera, Kavala, Lisbon, members will also gather together at the stand, Dialogue Create a Platform for Sustainable Madeira, Malaga, Marseille, Portimao, Sete, to advance several collaboration projects that Growth?’ session. The session will take place Tarragona, Tenerife, Var Provence and Valletta. are currently in progress. on September 10th between 09.00-11.00. In addition, various MedCruise members will Carla Salvad ό, Μ edCruise President, has MedCruise is hosting a reception on participate in the Italian ports pavilion acted at panel of judges for the 2015 edition of September 10th, between 12.00-14.00 on the (Assoporti), the Spanish umbrella stands of the Seatrade Cruise Awards. MedCruise stand A4.413 in the Hamburg Puertos del Estado and Suncruise Andalucia. MedCruise Honorary President Stavros Messe. 47th MedCruise General Assembly lbia in North Sardinia, Italy will be the started expanding. Among the first cruise line mark on the territory. This history is still alive in host of the 47th MedCruise General executives that confirmed their attendance are well preserved remains, fully accessible to cruise Assembly to be held 14-17 October 2015. Kerry Anastassiadis (Celestyal), Sander passengers. The land expresses itself via several ODuring the General Assembly meeting, Groothuis (Windstar), Adam Sharp (Royal different environments - sea, plains, hills, MedCruise member representatives together Caribbean), Javier Rodriguez Sanchez mountains, cultivated fields and desert areas. with other esteemed guests will discuss the (Pullmantur), Marcus Puttich and Tine Oelmann Several oak forests fill out the landscape; from latest developments of the cruise industry, as (TUI). them cork is extracted whilst nearby is the well as the implications and prospects of Several more are expected to confirm over the exclusive Costa Smeralda, a luxury resort created cruising in the Med and its adjoining seas. next days, transforming the MedCruise GA to the in the 1960s by the Aga Khan IV. In line with the MedCruise tradition, all regular key Autumn 2015 cruise event in the Med. and associate members will have a first class This edition’s host, Port of Olbia, forms today opportunity to discuss the developments in the the main doorway to Sardinia. Besides being one region, while they will also devote time in B2B of the most important passenger ports in the meetings and interactive Workshops with Mediterranean with four million passengers esteemed cruise line executives. every year, is also an important trading port with A special session of the 47th GA will be nearly six million tons of goods, annually. Large devoted to the efforts of MedCruise to promote cruise ships are handled in Isola Bianca wharf, its member ports as the mostly preferred cruise whilst smaller ships can tie alongside the destination among Chinese cruise tourists. Interior berths site of Olbia’s ancient Roman port. A number of workshops will also take place, Kissed by sun, caressed by sea waves, allowing cruise ports and their associates to surrounded by a unique, unspoiled natural engage in depth discussions with participating scenario, North Sardinia has three cruise ports: cruise line executives. Olbia, Golfo Aranci and Porto Torres. The list of cruise line guests has already Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans all left their Bringing the Med Together 1 Did you know? MedCruise GA Particpants are engaged in fruitful MedCruise creates a culture workshops In the last General Assembly, MedCruise of cruising the Med in Asia introduced a number of new futures in the two day program of the event. Cruise line participants and ith the Mediterranean area having the coming months and years aiming to create MedCruise members enjoyed workshop meetings the potential to become a popular a culture of cruising the Med. with lively interactions that produced interesting cruise destination for Asian tourists, Recently, MedCruise embarked in a major recommendations. Win the medium and long term, MedCruise has project intensively to emerge the started to explore the advantages of this new Mediterranean and its adjoining seas as the The MedCruise Newsletter reminds the key source market. known and preferred destination for cruise recommendations of the 46th MedCruise General The renewed interest of cruise companies to tourists and people from China who decide to Assembly, as reported by the guest journalist Jon expand cruising in the Asian market provides visit international places. Ingleton: today new opportunities for the growth of In particular the Association now works to cruising in the Mediterranean and its create and disseminate for MedCruise, and Recommendations adjoining seas. each of its members, a corporate image In order to achieve this potential, MedCruise promoting the Mediterranean and its adjoining Destination 71 port members decided to turn the ‘reaching seas in China as a benchmark destination for • Enhance the guest welcome of Asia’ to a key target. Missions to Seatrade Chinese tourism. • Deliver strong first impressions at port events in Hong-Kong and Singapore, talks MedCruise emphasises that Med and its • Create destination stakeholder groups with travel agents, and the participation in adjoining seas is a region that represents a • Engage city/tourist board educational programs of travel agents in Far high degree of attraction as an experience of • Share guest satisfaction ratings East started in 2013 – and will be repeated in history, nature, culture, gastronomy etc. very • Consider free wifi in port much appreciated by Chinese tourists in general - and creating a competitive advantage Infrastructure for those ports being part of MedCruise. Being • Synergy between port terminal, airport and line at the crossroads of three continents, the • Flexibility to cope with peak time demands region offers a combination of numerous • Create standard port infrastructure guidelines destinations, richness in history, cultural diversion, whereas weather conditions allow Traffic & competition for extended cruise seasons. • Home and transit port collaboration to set MedCruise port members will further itinerary standards explore the best to way to generate such • Create destination demand within source positive image and enable Asian tourists to markets realise the excellent product and attractions • Public and transparent berthing policy offered by the Med ports during the • Create demand for year round cruising forthcoming General Assembly to be held in MedCruise Chinese newsletter, 2nd edition Olbia, North Sardinia in October 2015. Fact Finding Report highlights the main challenges facing members edCruise has been engaged in an The outcome of this study will be a The flagship publication of the effort to detail the characteristics special MedCruise Fact Finding Report that Association is expected to be circulated in of the cruise port industry in the will detail the state of the cruise ports early 2016, part of the celebrations that will Mediterranean and its adjoining seas and industry in the Mediterranean and its mark the 20th birthday of the Association. the challenges that the MedCruise member adjoining seas. ports are facing. MedCruise members participated in the 2015 Fact Finding Report of the association answering 70 questions related to a range of subjects including profile, port structure, challenges, berth booking practices, operational issues and financial responsibilities. On the question of challenges facing cruise ports, the three issues highlighted of upmost importance were the relationship with the cruise lines, followed by port infrastructure (other than transport) and the increasing size of cruise ships. On the issue of procedures, ports responding identified those related to passengers and crew arriving/moving in/out of Schengen areas as the highest importance, followed by crew visas and the checking/stamping of crew passports. 2 Bringing the Med Together MedCruise will be Ports of Tenerife to host participating at the Seatrade Cruise Med 2016 following events worldwide in autumn 2015 Seatrade Europe, Hamburg 09-11 September, 2015 MedCruise will have its own stand (413) at Seatrade Europe. The event will take place on 09-11 September 2015, at Hamburg Messe Italian Cruise Day 2015, Civitavecchia 02 October, 2015 enerife’s Santa Cruz is the venue for key topics including the current state of the 2016’s largest cruise industry event cruise industry in the Mediterranean region focussing on the Mediterranean