Members of the MedCruise Association and cruise executives gathered in the Spanish city of Tarragona in June to discuss how they can join forces to make the industry more diverse and sustainable. Rebecca Gibson reports Each year, Tarragona in Spain hosts a castell competition, where teams with people of all ages and abilities share their collective strength to build the highest human tower. MedCruise president Figen Ayan drew a parallel between the castells and the more than 154 ports and 57 associate members in the MedCruise Association when opening the 64th MedCruise General Assembly in Tarragona, Spain, in June 2024. “We all carry universal values such as teamwork, solidarity, selfimprovement, the feeling of belonging and the integration of people of all ages, races and social backgrounds,” she said, welcoming almost 200 delegates, which include a record number of cruise executives, port and association members, media representatives and travel experts. “That’s why we decided to prepare this whole programme with events and sessions echoing one mainstream philosophy: inclusiveness.” Hosted in partnership with Tarragona Cruise Port, the conference kicked off with a ‘Women Power in the Waters’ session, where it was revealed that women make up just two per cent of the 1.25 million seafarers worldwide. Celebrity Cruises’ Kate McCue, who was the first American woman to captain a mega cruise ship, partially attributed this low figure to a lack of visible female representation. She gave an insight into how she uses her social media platform to showcase the “plentiful opportunities” for careers at sea and urged others to join her in dispelling outdated perceptions. “If you can see it, you can be it,” she said. “Women are now across every single onboard department. Gender is not something that is going to limit you, regardless of what your position is onboard the ship.” Marie-Caroline Laurent, director general of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Europe, supported McCue’s plea for increased diversity and representation. “The success of the cruise industry is definitely thanks to the variety of people,” she said, outlining CLIA’s new initiatives to encourage younger generations to consider maritime careers, which include sharing testimonials from employees across the industry and taking students onboard cruise ships. Ayan joined the panel to reveal that MedCruise has created a dedicated careers page on its website in response to the numerous enquiries from people looking to join the cruise sector. A later presentation by Edgar Weggelaar, partner and CEO of Queer Destinations, outlined how ports and destinations can actively welcome the LGBTQ+ community. In another session exploring how ports and destinations can create “harmonious and holistic services”, cruise executives suggested the top priorities should be to Increasing inclusivity and diversity MEDITERRANEAN: REPORT 182
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