MedCruise News Airam Díaz Pastor is appointed as the March 2018 new President of MedCruise Issue 55 iram Díaz Pastor, the new President of accomplished with the solid cooperation MedCruise News pg. 1-5 MedCruise, together with a new Board of between cruise lines and MedCruise members. ADirectors were elected at the General The kindly and extensive relationship between Port facilities & Assembly in Toulon in October, shares his the Association and cruise lines executives is Destinations pg. 6-20 vision. one of the values of being a MedCruise member. MedCruise with 70 port members, 32 Cruise lines executives share their time with New ships arriving to the associate members and representing 20 members in the MedCruise General Assemblies, Med in 2018 pg. 21-23 countries from 3 continents are continuously B2B meetings, cooperate in the developing of sharing best practices and offering its expertise studies, being each year and I am confident List of MedCruise to the whole cruise industry. In fact, this is one more and more in the future, our ideal and of the MedCruise values, natural partners in the Members pg. 24 the power to share and cruise business. drive to the wealth of the MedCruise works as Association and its well with other partners members. such as ESPO or PIANC Seeing that, the among others in matters MEDCRUISE BOARD 2018 MedCruise members, Board of common interest to and their responsibilities of Directors and the represent their members Presidency, which I have interests in a changing President Airam Díaz Pastor the honour to represent, world and to assist them developped an ambitious in the process to Senior Vice President, Membership / working plan to address the improve and growth. Finance Aris Batsoulis main challenges MedCruise strongly MedCruise needs to face: believes together we will Vice President, Ports & Cities / •New trends in the be successful, therefore Destinations shipbuilding and how to the Association created Laura Cimaglia adapt cities and ports to working groups based Professional Development Director this new reality that on the main challenges. Figen Ayan provides more business Each Board of Directors North Africa Director and employment to the member has a special Cherifa Ben Salem local communities. task related to •Environmental issues challenges (see box). I Communication, Marketing & Promotion Director such as supply LNG to cruise ships. am proud to work hand by hand with this BoD Maria Cano •New source markets such as Asia, where the full of cruise experts from different ports this Association is working since long time ago to teamwork is what I consider is the MedCruise Projects & Studies Director attract Chinese cruise passengers to the value and our great pride, the core to keep Cristina De Gregori MedCruise region. generating a sustainable cruise growth in the Partnerships / Events Director •Regulations such as Schengen procedures, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Red Sea, Adriatic and Nicky Guerrero port reception facilities… Near Atlantic. Sustainability / Environmental Issues All of these challenges only could be #portstogether. Director Valeria Mangiarotti Jordi Caballé Valls appointed MedCruise Secretary General Black Sea Director Teodor Patrichi MedCruise was pleased port concessions as PhD Project in Cooperation with to announce the Economics & Business. other associations Director Theodora Riga appointment of Mr. “It is an honour for me to be part of the Jordi Caballé Valls as world’s biggest cruise port association. I will New Source Markets Director new Secretary General work very hard together with the President Carla Salvadó in mid-February 2018. and the Board of Directors to achieve the European Union Affairs Director Jordi Caballé, a well- goals of the association, which are our Thrasivoulos Stavridopoulos recognised consultant members’ goals“, said Jordi Caballé after in port management and development, will being appointed as Secretary General. provide his solid expertise in tax regulations Appreciating the productive work done for and auditing to the association. Jordi has the Association in the past years, MedCruise been involved in many seaport-industry- would like to take this opportunity to thank projects, developing knowledge and advising Thanos Pallis (MedCruise SG, during the both private companies and public bodies period 2013-2017) and Aimilia Papachristou such as ESPO, World Bank, and port (acting SG, during the period Jan-Feb 2018) authorities worldwide. He is also for their contribution to the works of the investigating port policies, port choice, and Association. Bringing the Med Together 1 MedCruise works with airports MedCruise and cruise lines to create leads Travel MEDCRUISE NEWS robust cruise supply chain Agent Training edCruise port member Barcelona Chair, CLIA Europe, and Oscar Oliver, General @ Seatrade played a leading role in advancing Director of CETMO and Former Commercial Mdiscussions on how to best link Director, Aeroports de Catalunya. Cruise Asia aviation and cruising, during the BCN World For more information, please contact: Routes event held in Barcelona 23-26 Mar Perez, Port of Barcelona & Member of September. Santiago Garcia Mila, Deputy MedCruise Board of Directors, Pacific 2017 Executive Director, Port of Barcelona was among [email protected] the key participants at the round table "Cruise and Aviation 2020", that discussed how to make the most of the cruise growth opportunity, what is the best way for airlines and cruise companies, airports and port authorities to work together to create the best customer journey and the most efficient and cost effective working practices. The other members of the panel were Kyriakos Anastassiadis, CEO, Celestyal Cruises & edCruise leads once again this year the Travel Agent Training MedCruise #PDC2017 marked Mprogramme that took place during Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific 2017 event held 1-3 November, in Baoshan District, Shanghai, with success China. The programme, which is sponsored by MedCruise, attended by travel agents from edCruise members advanced their Chris Ashcroft (Cruise Insight) gave emphasis different regions of the Far East, who had professional skills and knowledge on the important points that a port should the opportunity to discuss with MedCruise during a most successful 2017 take in consideration when is marketing the M President Airam Díaz Pastor the richness of edition of the MedCruise Professional port, while Serafín Blazquez (Intercruises) the Mediterranean destinations and the Development Course (PDC) that was held discussed in depth the cruise supply chain multiple opportunities offered in the from 27 to 30 October 2017. from the shorex and port agency side. Mediterranean and its adjoining seas. During three days cruising from Piraeus to The second part of the course has been MedCruise President initiated the Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos, Heraklion, and concluded by Vassilios Gazikas (Celestyal discussions presenting the Med and its Santorini, the PDC participants had the Cruises) who gave a detailed presentation on adjoining seas as a cruise destination and opportunity to discuss best practices and the operational issues and the importance of describing all those features that make the attend a rich in terms of content programme. specific information and port technical Mediterranean the best choice for cruising. Sharing best practices, customer orientation characteristics for the safe berth of the ship He also updated travel agents on the innovation in the organisation, learning from and the disembarkation and embarkation of prospects of cruising in one of the most the others, keeping employees engaged, the passengers and crew. interesting regions of the world, while the prototyping the future, implementing change In Kusadasi, a MedCruise member port, the presentation was followed by an extensive successfully, innovative thinking at work participants were welcomed by Aziz Gungor, network session. were discussed via during the first part of General Manager of the Kusadasi port which is "The message MedCruise spreads to the the course. The instructor was Jorge Bugallo operated by Global Ports Holdings. The group Chinese world is clear: there is nowhere else (WIN+WIN Barcelona). had the opportunity to visit the cruise terminal on this planet where one can cruise to so and be informed on many different countries within such a short the details regarding period of time and sample as many flavours, the daily operations. cultures and retrace the footsteps of history The professional as one can in the Mediterranean and its development course, adjoining seas", says MedCruise President which is organised Airam Diaz Pastor. periodically and With China being a dynamic cruise offered by MedCruise market, an impressive number of Chinese as part of the services will opt to cruise over the next few years. to its membership, For MedCruise, the priority is to received excellent communicate to Chinese and Asian citizens evaluations by its the presence of a region that offers so many participants. opportunities to maximise their satisfaction The 2017 edition was from cruising: The Med and its adjoining realised with the kind seas. collaboration of All delegates of the event received the Celestyal Cruises in latest MedCruise material οn the cruising hosting the event on opportunities offered in its member ports, as board Celestyal well as a specially designed MedCruise Olympia. newsletter in Chinese language. 2 MedCruise promotes "Cruising MedCruise ports the Med" @ International and destinations