By
Rebecca Gibson |
How have you spent the first few months as Cruise Europe chairman?
The structure of Cruise Europe changed two years ago when the members elected a full-time managing director, Jens Skrede. The role of chairman and Council also changed and my role involves working very closely with the managing director, reporting back to a very dedicated Council and convening a Council meeting on a quarterly basis.
You have stated your goal is to ‘deliver to the cruise companies a world class cruise destination on behalf of our members’. How do you hope to achieve this?
The Cruise Europe area consists of four distinct regions including the Europe West Coast, Baltic, Norway, Iceland and Faroes, and the United Kingdom and Ireland. Each has different criteria regarding the cruising season depending on weather conditions, regulations and navigation. However, there are many issues common to each region, including those around delivery of service, quality of tours and excursions, language guides and capacity. Our new Cruise Europe Guide and Port Handbook is available electronically, allowing member ports to log in and update port or destination information. The regular distribution of newsletters both to members and cruise lines executives ensures a strong communication.
How do you see Cruise Europe helping its members to address the challenges facing the cruise industry?
There are many challenges facing the cruise industry, chief among these being the challenging fiscal environment, the consumer market under pressure, rising fuel costs and increasing regulation. The implementation of the Emissions Control Area (ECA) regulations from 2015 and of the global sulphur limit in either 2020 or 2025 means fuel is a key cost and business driver. The Cruise Europe regions will be affected by these regulations although sections will be outside the zone until around 2020. As no port or region is a cruise destination on its own, we in Cruise Europe need to work with the cruise lines and regional tourism organisations while getting greater buy-in from the regions, which are often the greatest beneficiaries in terms of revenue. Globalisation is creating new source markets in Asia, South America and the cruise lines have mobile assets and many untapped global markets that have less regulated environmental regulations and cheaper fuel.
What are the port highlights in terms of cruise business growth within the Cruise Europe region?
The European cruise industry is ever more dependent on Europe itself for its source of passengers with numbers from Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain increasing despite the fiscal environment in Europe. We believe that there is still underlying growth in demand across Europe. The Cruise Europe region offers such a diverse cruise experience from culture, history, landscape and scenery to dining, beverages and entertainment that it is no coincidence it is a top destination to visit. Coupled with the fact that so many brands are catering for more localised embarkation and disembarkation, this reduces the flight time to joining a ship and airline issues of excess baggage and tighter controls. The fluctuation in exchange rates is also less of an issue while cruising within the EU zone. But we must continue to compete hard to maintain the cruise ship presence, as transatlantic airfares are reducing the numbers of Americans coming to Europe due to the rising costs of air travel from fuel pricing.
What is your overall vision for your term as Cruise Europe chairman?
My vision is to deliver a world class cruise destination to the cruise companies on behalf of our members. My goal for achieving this is to focus on B2B marketing to provide opportunities for bringing members and cruise lines together. I also wish to increase the number of member ports and associate members which represent the North and Atlantic European perspective to the wider cruise industry and create awareness of our region for winter cruising, while ensuring the best return on expenditure for all activities.
What do you most want ICFR readers to know about Cruise Europe?
I would like to highlight the excellent value for money of being a member of Cruise Europe. Benefits are many and for me include attendance at the Cruise Europe Conference where you get to spend quality time with top cruise executives. This also means the opportunity to exhibit in Cruise Europe Street at Cruise Shipping Miami annually, as well as Seatrade Med and Seatrade Europe biannually. The cost for an individual port to exhibit at these trade shows is prohibitive, so this opportunity is great value for money. Cruise lines like the convenience of having most of their information in Cruise Europe’s dynamic digital Cruise Europe Guide. Other benefits are inclusion within the Cruise Europe website, which incorporates an itinerary planner and dedicated pages for member ports along with a website that is promoted extensively to the industry.
Cruise Europe keeps our members informed about political decisions, including legislation and environmental issues, alongside giving updates on regular market intelligence. Two years ago, on Council’s recommendation, the members appointed a dedicated press team who issue regular news articles on behalf of Cruise Europe.
I believe that Cruise Europe, consisting of more than 100 member ports and associate members, works and speaks with one common voice in this global cruise industry. But I am only one person and our strength is in our shared vision and we have a fantastic council. It is a great honour for me to have been elected as Chairman for a four-year term.