MedCruise and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) executives met at the Port of Piraeus in Greece on 25 February to assess ways of collaborating to grow cruising.
CLIA VP Didier Scaillet and CLIA Europe Secretary-General Robert Ashdown met with MedCruise President Stavros Hatzakos and Secretary-General Thanos Pallis at the Mediterranean association’s headquarters to explore the possibilities for partnering on promotional and regulatory issues of mutual interest, as well as ways of improving the appeal of cruising.
Scaillet and Ashdown presented the latest developments in CLIA, as well as the scope and aims of the association’s recent restructuring. Hatzakos and Pallis highlighted the growing activities of MedCruise and its strategy of promoting cruise in the Mediterranean and adjoining seas through dialogue with cruise lines.
Both associations have committed to ongoing communication between cruise lines and ports for the benefit of their respective members in both the supply and demand segments of the cruise market.
The proposed collaboration between MedCruise and CLIA follows a joint submission statement to the European Commission outlining their aim of putting cruise at the core of the European maritime growth strategy.