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Cruise passengers boost Cork’s economy by €12 million

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 07 November 2018 07 November 2018

With one more cruise ship left to visit in December, the Port of Cork’s 2018 cruise season is drawing to a close. A total of 92 cruise ships will have visited in 2018, the most significant cruise season ever for the Port of Cork; and with over 157,000 passengers and 69,000 crews stepping ashore this summer, the local economy gained over €12 Million.

The increased cruise calls to Cork are indicative of the wider global cruise business which has seen huge growth. In 2018 it is estimated that 27.2 million people will have taken a cruise on over 450 cruise ships worldwide.

With the global cruise ship order book for new build contracts reaching 113 ships between now and 2027, Cork cruise business is set to grow further in the coming years and the Port of Cork is eager to attract these new ships.

Brendan Keating, Port of Cork Chief Executive said: "Even though our cruise business has grown 30% in the last year, the biggest beneficiary is the region with up to €12 million injected into the local economy over the summer cruise season. This is a significant boost which we are delighted to facilitate. In 2019 we anticipate over 100 cruise calls to Cork and realistically this is how we expect the cruise business pace to continue.."

In October, the Port of Cork visited all the major cruise lines calling to Cork and feedback from the companies was very positive in terms of their passenger experiences when visiting Cork. Currently all cruise operations are handled in Cobh, Ireland’s only dedicated cruise berth, however with the continued growth in calls, the Port of Cork is now keen to explore the option of a second cruise berth in Cobh.

In that regard, the Port of Cork last week launched their ‘Expressions of Interest’ to the market inviting submissions from potential interested parties to develop and/or operate a new cruise berth at Lynch’s Quay Cobh.

Conor Mowlds, Port of Cork Chief Commercial Officer said: "By launching the Expressions of Interest we will see if there is an appetite in the market to develop a new cruise berth in Cobh. From the Port’s perspective, we know this business is growing and we want to have every possible option ready to capitalise on this business."

French cruise destinations meet the Chinese cruise market

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 31 October 2018 31 October 2018

For the second year in a row, a French delegation composed of cruise-club executives from three main French Atlantic ports (Valérie Conan/Le Havre Cruise Club, Laurence Bouchardie/Bordeaux Cruise Club and Guillaume Henry/Cherbourg Cruise Club) including one representative of the Mediterranean region promoting 12 ports (Anne-Marie Blum/Var Provence Cruise Club) have attended the Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific held in Baoshan, Shanghai from 23-24 October.

This business trip, organised over a week period by Atout France, the French government Tourism agency, has enabled the French cruise club representatives to schedule meetings with major travel agencies of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, alongside their participating at Seatrade Asia. The objectives of this trip were to get insight about the evolution of the Chinese market, to identify the key contacts, to highlight France’s great offer in terms of maritime and river cruise ports, both for transit, turnaround and varied excursion experiences, as well as the immense potential of pre- and post-cruise stays available for the Chinese cruise guests.

An opportunity to network with cruise industry professionals and weave close relationships with all the travel agencies professionals encountered in order to deliver the best offers and services for their customers.

Likewise, compared to the previous visit of the delegation last year, Chinese professionals have highlighted the intense growth of the cruise market over the last 10 years, and especially to the Mediterranean being the first destination to be quoted. Northern Europe, however, is already well identified and attracts an increasing number of visitors.

From the meetings and exchanges the French cruise clubs’ delegation had with the professionals of the travel industry, hereunder are some of the first lessons learned:

– All brands represented by travel agents are present on the French territory, either in transit or on turnaround.

– There are still difficulties to obtain visas for Chinese citizens to visit some countries that need to be solved.

– Following the 10-year growth of the Asian market, not only in volume of departures from China to Asia, but also for fly-cruises packages, according to a majority of travel agencies who are very optimistic about the future, they confirm that Europe is definitely a major destination (2nd most popular after Asia), that offers the greatest potential and attracts repeaters, already familiar with cruise holidays in Asia.

– Ports and destinations must get ready to welcome this market and deliver quality services up to the expectations of their guests.

Ashore:

– Tailor-made excursions with Chinese speaking cruise guides.

– More middleclass Chinese passengers want to experience with the locals.

Shopping is still trendy:

– new services should be implemented locally for the Chinese market with the possibility of payment by WeChat.

– Cruise lines should develop new homeports to widen the variety of destinations.

On board:

– Cruise lines must deliver services dedicated to this market.

– Chinese speaking guides and crew to solve the language barrier (reception, services, catering…)

– High quality Chinese cuisine and food is key.

Interest in the French destinations goes far beyond the Cruise product only, as many Chinese visitors combine their cruise experience with a pre- or post-stay, offering great prospects for territorial spin-offs. To achieve this, however, the specific needs of Chinese customers will have to be considered.

And their expectations are more precise than one would think. Hence, the approach of the French delegation was warmly welcomed by all interlocutors, who are already familiar with the French tourist assets such as the many UNESCO sites for instance, and they rely on their support to identify new products, in order to satisfy their customers in search of immersive and authentic experiences, off the beaten tracks.

Thus, each destination has been able to assert its own attractions, but more importantly, the relationship is being forged for a longer-term collaboration.

CCYIA presents six point list to revitalise Chinese cruise market

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 22 October 2018 22 October 2018

Compared with the situation of rapid development in the past five years, China’s cruise market has undergone significant changes in 2017 and 2018 with a slower growth of the number of passengers and sailings, said Zheng Weihang, executive vice president and secretary general of China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA).

"As China’s cruise industry enters the market adjustment period, the cruise industry needs to think thoroughly about the important issues in six aspects, including increasing efforts to promote inbound tourism of international cruises, spreading the concept of cruise destinations, improving onshore travel itineraries, establishing the system of cruise classification, opening medium-long routes and developing local cruise," he said in a statement.

Xiao Baojia, chairman of the Asia Cruise Academy of Shanghai Maritime University, various ministries and commissions of the central government have issued a number of policies to support the cruise industry in 2018.

The biggest highlight that substantial breakthrough may be made in eliminating many obstacles hindering the local cruise development in the next two to three years by relying on the advantages of the new policies for Hainan’s reform and opening up and the development of free trade zones.

At the same time, it is also possible that important progress may be made for cruise ship building in China with continuous policy support.

In terms of the market, Xiao Baojia is optimistic about the development potential of China’s coastal cruise and inland river cruise. At present, three major coastal areas, including North China, East China and South China, are preparing to upgrade the small and medium-sized cruise ships to develop the marine leisure tourism industry.

Local governments along the Yangtze River and Yunnan Province are also actively promoting the infrastructure construction and product market development for inland river cruise.

As pointed out by Xu Juehui, general manager of Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, under the overall circumstance of slower growth of China’s market this year, many industrial hotspots are still very eye-catching.

Cruise ports in South China are providing more innovative routes and more comfortable cruise experience, continuously releasing the potential of passenger sources and persistently heating up the market in South China.

A pilot ticket system has laid a good foundation for the sustainable and healthy development of the cruise market, and the implementation plan for Hainan to deepen reform has brought a number of innovative policies for cruise management to become a new driving force for China’s cruise industry development.

 

With the rapid development of the international inland river market, the Yangtze River cruise is expected to become a new hot spot for domestic cruise tourism. Chinese cruise ship factories are taking advantages of this trend to solve the difficulty in luxury cruise ship construction and help boost the starting of domestic cruise ship construction.

 

 

MedCruise launches working group to promote the Black Sea

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations

Published: 19 October 2018 19 October 2018

MedCruise, the organisation which promotes Mediterranean as a cruise destination, said it has launched a working group to promote the Black Sea towars the cruise industry.

Formation of the working group composed by MedCruise members from Black Sea region comes after the action plan signed by Port of Odessa, Port of Varna, Port of Constanta and Port of Burgas during the 52nd MedCruise General Assembly held in Malta in May 2018.

This action plan highlighted the absence of the maritime cruise ships in the Black Sea in 2017 and the slow comeback of the cruise ships in the region on a three years period of time as well as the cruise itineraries that are already locked for the cruise session 2019-20, MedCruise said in a statement.