Cruise industry leaders converge at Posidonia Sea Tourism forum to discuss industry’s challenges and potential
The 7th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum will bring together top executives and industry leaders from the international cruise sector to discuss the challenges and potential of the industry and highlight the importance of the Southeast Mediterranean region and the need for new destinations to keep pace with the industry’s rapid growth and emerging trends.
To be held on 25-26 April in Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Palace Hotel, the biennial event comes at a time when the cruise industry is looking to fully recover from the pandemic and chart a path towards a sustainable future.
The high-ranking participation of CLIA at the event is a testament to the importance of the region and the need for new destinations and markets to emerge.
The forum is set to feature a high-profile line-up of speakers and the keynote speech will be delivered by Pierfrancesco Vago, CLIA Global Chair and Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises.
Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises, who has also confirmed her presence at the event, emphasized the importance of sustainable cruising and integrated planning. “Cruising is a sustainable mode of travel, and together with the ports and destinations, we will continue to develop while taking everyone’s interests into account – through integrated planning and better management of guest flows.”
The speakers will focus on a number of key issues including destination delivery, the development and upgrade of port and tourism infrastructure to encourage and enable growth, the need to properly assess the economic benefit and environmental impact for a given destination and the capacity for shore-side electric power-connectivity, amongst others. They will also discuss the challenges of berth reservation and assignment, particularly in marquee ports with limited berthing ability.
With a line-up of top industry executives, the Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum is poised to generate significant interest and provide valuable insights for all participants.
Confirmed speakers include: Manolis Alevropoulos, Vice President, Celebrity Cruises, Spiros Almpertis, VP Port Operations, Itinerary Planning and Fuel Management, Crystal Cruises, Figen Ayan, President of MedCruise, Michele Bosco, Manager Shore Excursions Mediterranean, North Africa & Black Sea, Holland America Group, Linden Coppell, Vice President Sustainability & ESG of MSC Cruises, Aziz Gungor, East Med Ports Regional Director, Global Ports Holding PLC & General Manager, Kusadasi Cruise Port, George Koumpenas, President of Hellenic Cruise Ship Owners & Associated Members’ Union, Ukko Metsola, Vice President, Government Relations, EMEA, Royal Caribbean Group, Marie-Caroline Laurent, Director General of CLIA Europe, Athanasios Liagkos, Executive Chairman of the BoD & Managing Director, ThPA SA, Minas Papadakis, Chief Executive Officer, Heraklion Port Authority, Theodora Riga, Chief Commercial Officer & Strategic Communications Director, ThPA SA, Mark Robinson, Senior Vice President Cruise Operations, Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours, Chris Theophilides, CEO, Celestyal Cruises, Constantine Venetopoulos, Director of Communications & PR, Variety Cruises and Yu Zenggang, Chairman, Piraeus Port Authority SA.
The event promises to be an opportunity for the cruise industry to come together and find solutions for the challenges facing the sector.
Theophilides, Celestyal Cruises, commented: “We are delighted to participate in this year’s Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum, particularly as it takes place in our homeport of Thessaloniki, an up-and-coming city that has plenty to offer visitors in the way of history, culture and unrivalled gastronomy. As Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean are our home, we look forward to constructive dialogue between the authorities and cruise companies to ensure sustainable development within the area which will benefit both the national and the local economy.”
Almpertis, Crystal Cruises, said: “I am very happy to participate in the Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum which is a key event for cruise and passenger shipping in Greece, the Eastern Med and the Black Sea. We can gain advantage by meeting great leaders from all sectors of the cruise industry, such as owners, governmental authorities, ports and port agents, and altogether we can explore ways of developing the importance of every brand service level and what the expectation is.”
Bosco, Holland America Group, added: “I expect to meet and reconnect with international industry leaders and authorities, and possibly tie new business relations. Furthermore, I look forward to discussing topics and challenges of common interest and learn of the most recent ship’s industry innovations. Meeting professionals from every sea tourism sector, interchanging viewpoints and new ideas is not only beneficial to everyone’s business, but also very rewarding.”
CLIA Europe highlights the importance of the event as it is organising a session titled ‘Pathways to Net Zero’ to offer practical examples of implementation and a guide through the maze to net zero. The session will cover topics ranging from decarbonisation, port infrastructure and safety requirements to the Poseidon principles. The imperative need to decarbonise is a challenge faced by the entire maritime sector, and the cruise industry has stated its commitment to pursuing net zero carbon cruising by 2050. The session will explore the pathways available to achieve net zero and the challenges that need to be overcome. The three pillars of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) offer a framework to measure and understand how sustainably an organisation is operating, and the session will provide insights on how these principles can be put into practice.
The Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum will also host the ‘YES to SEApping Forum 2023’ to reach out to the younger generation in Thessaloniki. The forum aims to inform young people about the evolving Blue Economy by covering both the Shipping and Sea Tourism industries. The forum has invited representatives of shipping organisations and institutions so that the young participants from northern Greece can gain a global view of the breadth of the industry and the opportunities that shipping offers across its entire spectrum.
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The chief executives of some of the world’s biggest cruise lines will participate in the first virtual panel discussion that will kick off the 6th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum 2021 on May 25th.
Gianni Onorato, CEO of MSC Cruises, Michael Thamm, Group CEO Costa Group and Carnival Asia, Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises, and Chris Theophilides, CEO of Celestyal Cruises will share the screen for the day’s first session titled ‘The Restart of Cruising in Europe and the Mediterranean’.
Each will share their company’s initiatives for post-pandemic cruising, their own vision for the restart and the measures and protocols each cruise line is implementing for the interim period. They will also discuss the reasons for the industry’s strong backing of the East Med as this year’s cruise hotspot, the region that in 2021 will host the highest number of cruise deployments in Europe.
Aida, Celebrity, Costa, Hapag Lloyd, MSC, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea and TUI along with Celestyal Cruises will run considerable East Mediterranean summer programmes this season. The port of Piraeus will be the homeport for vessels from Azamara Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Celestyal Cruises, Holland America Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Seabourn Cruises and Silversea Cruises. Celebrity have chosen Greece’s biggest port for the commercial global debut of its newest vessel the Celebrity Apex. Greece’s Corfu and Heraklion, Limassol in Cyprus and Israel’s Haifa are ports that also feature strongly in the lines’ homeporting schedules.
“After all the geopolitical problems that hampered the East Mediterranean’s cruise development in recent years, the industry is now choosing the region as a main theatre for its successful restart in Europe,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, Global Chairman of CLIA and Executive Chairman MSC Cruises, who will keynote the event with his opening remarks about the State of the Industry.
Other sessions during the one-day event will discuss the impact on shore excursions, destination management and delivery under the new health protocols, the environmental challenges ahead and the impact of COVID-19 on port operation and development.
The outlook for the 2021 season for cruising in Greece will be exclusively discussed in a dedicated session as the country banks on international visitor arrivals to revive an economy heavily dependent on tourism revenue. Greece, as well as all cruise destinations, lost much-needed income last year due to the suspension of the bulk of cruise operations world-wide. CLIA estimates the disruption to have caused the world economy US$77 billion in global economic activity and 518,000 jobs.
“Cruise recovery won’t be plain sailing. The waves are high, seas are rough, however the collective minds and will of the industry and its stakeholders are strong enough to weather the storm caused by the pandemic and guide us to calmer waters and safer harbours,” said Theodore Vokos, Managing Director, Posidonia Exhibitions S.A, the event’s organiser.
“The timing of this year’s PSTF is impeccable as we will be able to take the pulse and capture the mood of the global cruise industry almost in real time, within two weeks of the official resumption of commercial operations,” he added.
Registration is free of charge for members of the sea tourism and maritime community. Online functionality will enable delegates to ask questions. Recordings of the sessions will be available on demand for all registered users until 10 June, 2021.
Sponsors and exhibitors will showcase their products and services in the virtual ‘Exhibition Hall’ consisting of digital branded stands and featuring promotional material and video. The PSTF exhibition will be accessible through the platform https://posidoniaforum2021.com from 24 May until 10 June, 2021.
View Full PSTF Newsletter – May 2021