By
Cherie Rowlands |
Cruise line guest speakers at the Cruise Baltic conference in Copenhagen on 5-6 September spoke about the need for destinations to focus on the future when considering how to maximise their chances of being included in regional itineraries.
Francis Riley, Norwegian Cruise Line vice president and general manager international, and Chris Martin, Holland America Line director of port operations, were among those who addressed around 42 representatives of Cruise Baltic’s member ports and invited guests, stating that new cruise nationalities should be considered when marketing and developing destinations.
Riley said that the line’s fastest growing cruise markets include the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America, while the individual countries growing quickest include India, Malaysia, Israel, Italy, Australia and South America. As such, destinations need to cater for these languages.
Martin said: “Australia is a big and growing market. The Australian dollar is really strong right now and Australians are eager to travel. Since we opened our offices in Sydney the numbers of our Australian passengers has increased by more than 200 per cent from where we were then. That’s something for destinations to consider as far as marketing efforts going forward.”
Although other factors important for attracting cruise calls, particularly homeporting – depending on the target markets and demographics of individual cruise lines – include global airlift, infrastructure and services that support turnarounds, a range of accommodation as well as port costs, discounts and incentives, it is passengers’ awareness of a destination that is key, delegates heard. Costa Cruises director of port operations and development Elisabetta De Nardo said: “Although we may find a port attractive, the passengers may not know the destination.”
Martin said: “It needs to be a place that passengers know – Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo – these are all places that North Americans are familiar with. That’s why in a lot of cases it’s harder for us to sell a destination that you’re familiar with – even if you have the necessary infrastructure in place – but it might not be as well known to our guests as other marquee places where we turn our ships.”
Other speakers included Crystal Cruises’ vice president of land programmes John Stoll, who emphasised the importance of destination differentiation and authenticity, Royal Caribbean International’s global sustainability adviser Jamie Sweeting on stewardship, who highlighted the need to be aware of how a destination may look in 30 years – the length of time ships are built to last. Meyer Werft naval architect Philip Schneider spoke about the design trend towards larger vessels, with higher balcony ratios, more staterooms and a greater number and variety of restaurants. Cruise Lines International Association vice president of business development Didier Scaillet and Saga Cruises fleet director John Meikle also spoke at the event, which included workshops on destination marketing and ways of expanding the features of Cruise Baltic’s port services standards tool.
Summing up the two days, Cruise Baltic director Bo Larsen said: “Even closer dialogue is needed between cruise line operators and ports in order to improve facilities and the guest experience. Based on the feedback from a number of excellent cruise industry speakers I am pleased that we have succeeded in creating a productive platform for future collaboration.”