As the price of fuel continues to increase, the importance of fuel economy will remain high-profile; the North Sea, with its concentration of diversity, offers a wealth of opportunities in this respect, delegates agreed.
More than 120 delegates from the cruise, ports, tourism and government sectors across Europe gathered at the conference, hosted by Port of Hamburg Marketing, to hear key speakers and take part in discussions about developing and promoting much more cruise activity – on a sustainable basis – in the North Sea Region.
The number of people choosing to cruise has grown extremely rapidly in Europe in recent years but the focus has so far been much more on the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. The partners in Cruise Gateway, an EU Interreg IVB North Sea Region project, want to tackle this lack of maritime identity for the region and create a strong „Cruise Destination North Sea‟ brand.
“Clearly the opportunity is there for the development of the North Sea as a cruise destination. The North Sea Region hasn‟t achieved its full potential and there was a lot of discussion about how that potential could and should be achieved,” said Chris Hayman. “Some very good ideas emerged from the conference and clearly there is a great deal to discuss.”
He dismissed any ideas that the weather could reduce the North Sea‟s appeal to cruise lines. “There are many cruise customers who are not looking for brilliant sunshine but are interested in cultural visits and attractions,” he said. “I think it is a question of identifying opportunities and engaging in discussion with the cruise lines about increasing their itineraries in the region. An awful lot of factors go into the itinerary planning process and it is very important for regions to address all these considerations.”
Seatrade supports Cruise Miami [in March] and Seatrade Europe in Hamburg [in September] international cruise conferences. “The Hamburg conference will certainly be an opportunity to look again at many of the issues,” said Chris Hayman.
Speakers at the Cruise Gateway North Sea Project conference included Michael Ungerer, senior vice president of AIDA Cruises, who discussed the potential of cruise shipping in the North Sea Region; and Patrick Verhoeven, secretary general of the European Sea Ports Organisation, who talked about the role of cruise traffic in the sustainable development of European port cities.
In addition, delegates heard from Andreas Wankum, Hamburg Parliament‟s tourism spokesman; Michael Eggenschwiler, chairman of the executive board of Hamburg Airport; Sebastian Doderer, project manager of Cruise Gateway and head of project development at Port of Hamburg Marketing together with Nadine Palatz, Marketing Manager at Hamburg Cruise Center; and Mai Elmar, executive director of Cruise Port Rotterdam.
“This was a highly successful conference and a really positive start to the Cruise Gateway project,” said Cruise Gateway communications manager Richard Morton. “We know that there are real issues to be tackled as we look to promote more cruise activity in the NSR, while also aiming to promote the region as a „beacon for sustainable cruise‟.”