Cruise Europe 2018 Results
28 April 2018
April 25-27, 2018, Russia welcomed the International Conference Cruise Europe for the first time ever. The Conference was organized by the St. Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development represented by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, St. Petersburg Government Public Agency, and Passenger Port of St. Petersburg Marine Facade PLC.
The Cruise Europe Association currently unites 104 ports in the Baltic region, the North Atlantic and the British Isles. During the first day, the participants held regional committee meetings and the General Meeting of the Association, which approved the results of the year and the plans for the future. The grand opening of the Conference took place on April 26 at the Corinthia Hotel St. Petersburg. The opening addresses were delivered by Mr. Vadim Kashirin, CEO of Passenger Port of St. Petersburg Marine Facade PLC, and by the President of the Cruise Europe Association Captain Michael McCarthy. Conference participants, including representatives of the Cruise Europe member ports, discussed the possibility of providing assistance to small and medium sized vessels in the diversification of cruise itineraries, they touched upon details in the creation of shore excursion programmes and the main issue of port cities concerning new tourist products and talked about cruise development in the Asian region.
Mr. Chris Allen and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, operator of Harmony of the Seas, currently the world's largest cruise ship, highlighted the issue of environmental protection and conservation by noting the need for emission reduction and recycling. To this end, ports and cruise lines should work together to develop a joint strategy in terms of compliance with environmental standards, he said. Mr. Craig Milan from Virgin Voyages presented a positive forecast for the development of the cruise market when giving his talk by noting that the five largest operators of cruise lines (i.e., CCL, MSC, RCL, NCL, and Genting) were working towards increasing their ship passenger capacities by 40% within ten years.
A conference of this scale, with more than 120 participants from 30 countries, was held in Saint Petersburg for the first time and Russia was represented by Passenger Port of St. Petersburg Marine Facade PLC Inflot Worldwide Rus LLC, Arctur Travel LLC and Radio Guide Ltd. A year earlier, the event took place in Hamburg. Cruise line and port representatives expressed hope that the port infrastructure of Saint Petersburg would continue to develop, since the city had the potential to attract even more tourists, who enjoyed the unique opportunity to visit Russia’s second capital thanks to cruises and a 72-hour visa-free stay available for cruise passengers. Saint Petersburg’s main advantages include its rich museum heritage, the variety of tours offered, the favorable conditions for fuel bunkering operations and no VAT aboard the ships. In addition, many tourists found Saint Petersburg to be the most important cruise city in the list of ports because it opened opportunities to explore the Russian culture, said Craig Milan from Virgin Voyages. Representatives from the Princess Cruises even conducted an opinion poll of their own to define the word that was the most popular with tourists who preferred to travel aboard cruise ships. It was ‘local’ and it described everything from local people and local architecture to local food. Representatives from Princess Cruises proposed seizing this opportunity to benefit the city and to create a team of ‘local experts’ who would help tourists identify the major tourist attractions.
Conference guests also got a touch of the special ‘local’ experience as part of the cultural program, which was specially developed for them. The official reception was arranged for the guests at the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg, which hospitably opened its doors a few days prior to the start of cruise navigation to especially welcome all guests. The pier hosted the plaque exchange ceremony with Captain Michael McCarthy. In addition to the official conference, participants also visited the Ethnography Museum, where they were able to enjoy Russian ballet and opera.
The next conference will be held in Bruges on March 5-7, 2019 and it was noted at the Cruise Europe 2018 that the port city of Zeebrugge welcomes 145 cruise ships and 400,000 passengers.
The leadership of Passenger Port of St. Petersburg Marine Facade PLC thanks all members of Cruise Europe for taking part in the conference and giving their presentations.
