By
Rebecca Gibson |
MedCruise and several of its member ports have launched a new working group to promote the Black Sea as cruise ships gear up to return to the region in 2019 and beyond.
The working group was developed after MedCruise members from Black Sea region – Ukraine’s Port of Odessa, Romania’s Port of Constanta and Bulgaria’s Port of Varna and Port of Burgas – signed an ‘Action Plan’ at the 52nd MedCruise General Assembly in Malta this May. The plan outlined how cruise ports could capitalise on the fact that cruise ships had booked calls at Black Sea ports for the 2019-2020 season after being absent from the region since 2017.
MedCruise president Airam Diaz Pastor officially launched the group during a meeting in Odessa, Ukraine on 18 October, alongside MedCruise Black Sea director Teodor Patrichi, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan, the acting head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Raivis Veckagans, the deputy mayor of Odessa and the general manager of Odessa Port. Representatives from the aforementioned ports, the Black Sea Economic Corporation and several other local authorities also attended the meeting.
During the first meeting, attendees discussed the current state of the cruise sector in the region and agreed a strategy to develop a joint marketing campaign over the next few months.
“The launch of this work group will have a positive impact at the cruise industry in the whole region and it will bring new opportunities to all MedCruise members from the Black Sea – Port of Odessa, Port of Varna, Port of Constanta, Port of Burgas, Port of Trabzon and Port of Istanbul – as well as the cruise industry-related-companies that operate in the region,” said Pastor.