By
Rebecca Gibson |
Cruise Baltic director Claus Bødker chaired his first Steering Group Meeting for partners in Stockholm, Sweden, this August.
Hosted at the Scandic Grand Central Hotel, the two-day event welcomed more than 30 delegates from 22 Baltic destinations. Opening the event, Bødker outlined the tasks he had completed during the first three months in his new role. He highlighted that he had focused on meeting as many of the Cruise Baltic partners as possible to hear their views on this issues, challenges and opportunities affecting the cruise industry in the Baltic Sea region.
“It has been very rewarding for me to hear of the partners’ considerable enthusiasm, passion and knowledge,” said Claus Bødker. “With the considerable industry challenges facing us, in particular the introduction of Emission Control Areas that come into effect from 1 January, 2015, we need to ensure that as a region we need to make it even more financially attractive for the cruise lines to visit the Baltic Sea.”
Bødker also provided statistical updates on the cruise industry in the Baltic region, highlighting that a fifth of global ocean cruise passengers choose to sail in the Baltic. The statistics included the Cuise Ship Capacity Deployment Trends 2008-2014, the Cruise Ship Order Book 2015-2017, and Top 10 Cruise Source Markets.
“Our most important priority as a network is to work closely together, identifying industry issues which face us and at all times communicate consistently with both cruise lines and travel agents, together with keeping the travel and shipping trade media informed,” said Bødker.
Notable guest speakers at the event included Bob McGowan, head of customer services at Cruise & Maritime Voyages, who spoke about the line’s fleet and presented on ‘Exceptional Value Destination Cruising’; Tine Oelmann, TUI Cruises’ director of port operations, shore excursions and groundhandling, who discussed shore excursions in the Baltic Sea; and Esteban Biondi, associate principal at Applied Technology and Management, who spoke about cruis destination sustainability. In addition, Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services’ regional manager Bo Madsen spoke about the future of shorex, while the Baltic Gateway’s Irek Stankiewicz also joined the Speaker Discussion panel.
The two-day event also featured breakout sessions, which enabled delegates to attend destination and port workshops and meet cruise line representatives. All attendees participated in an evening tour to Stockholm Frihamnen Port Terminal, as well as a boat trip to the ABBA Museum and the Vasa Museum.