By
Michele Witthaus |
Passenger numbers, visa policies, shipbuilding and infrastructure were among the subjects discussed by representatives of cruise lines, ports, yards and European regulatory and legislative bodies at CLIA Europe’s 2013 Conference in the European capital on 25 June.
Referring to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)'s recent globalisation, which gave rise to the newly formed CLIA Europe and other regional entities, CLIA president and CEO Christine Duffy said: “It is important that we move forward as a real player with cohesive global regulatory and technical focus, sharing best practice and ensuring continuous improvement.”
CLIA Europe chairman Manfredi Lefebvre D’Ovidio said: “As an industry we are here with the goal of creating employment, growth and wealth, and we are looking to do this with the support of the European institutions. As a key contributor to the European tourist industry, we want to become a case study of the EU’s capability as a powerful economic system. In particular, we have two different opportunities: increasing the number of cruise passengers within Europe, and growing the number of visitors from outside Europe.”
Focusing on difficulties faced by the cruise industry in Europe due to restrictive visa policies, David Dingle, CEO of Carnival UK, said: “We need to make it easier for people to get here. The industry must be harmonised in a more global way and regulation must be flexed and eased to meet global practices. We are working closely with the European commission to speed up and simplify the process for specific Schengen visas.” Dingle said UK cruise turnarounds had strong benefits for local economies when the impact on the entire maritime cluster was taken into account. “Just one cruise ship turnaround brings approximately £2.5 million into the local economy.”
Michael Thamm, CEO of Costa Cruises, said the 3.6 per cent growth in the European cruise business last year was cause for optimism. “This speaks for the strength of our product and our ability to take it to the marketplace,” said Thamm. “It is still possible that we will see 10 million passengers in Europe by 2020.”
Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises and vice chairman of CLIA Europe, said that although cruise activity in the Mediterranean showed signs of contraction for the first time in 2012, “the sector in this region is not only resilient, it is sound and solid, with the European market now accounting for 30 per cent of global market share.”
Bernard Meyer, managing partner of Meyer Werft, outlined the benefits to business of passenger ship construction in European yards. He pointed out that at the Meyer Neptun Group’s two yards, “only 25 per cent of a vessel is built by the yard itself but we use many subcontractors, 99 per cent of which are in Europe.”
Other speakers at the conference addressed issues including travel agent training, operational safety and environmental regulation, in particular the question of whether ship operators and ports were making sufficient progress towards complying with the more stringent emissions controls due to come into force in 2015.
There was also a focus on changes in patterns of ship deployment both within and from Europe with the growth of new markets in China, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Poland and other countries.