Alan Lam reporting
The sixth Madrid International Cruise Summit was successfully concluded this afternoon (23 November). This year’s main focus was firmly on orderbooks and how to fill the new ships.
Already with more than 70 newbuildings ordered and many more expected, the questions asked during the summit were naturally about where to deploy them and how to fill them. As usual, there were calls from industry leaders and stakeholders to work together to market cruise as a value-for-money holiday option, to educate the public about cruising, and to communicate its benefits.
Filling these ships is becoming a priority for the future viability of the industry; but there are many challenges it must confront, not least the traditional ones concerning geopolitical, macro-economic, and demographics issues. Moreover, like everyone else the cruise industry now faces new uncertainties brought about by such event as Brexit and Trump presidency.
As well as acknowledging the challenges, the industry also sees opportunities everywhere, including in Turkey where there is a market with 80 million inhabitants. Marketing, seeking out new destinations, and travel agent training are still deemed to be key to the future of this sector.
Our correspondent was again in attendance and was a speaker at the summit. These topics will be explored further in a full-length article planned for the Spring 2017 issue of Cruise Business Review.
