MedCruise’s 64th assembly in Tarragona

Inclusiveness was the main thematic stream of the 64th MedCruise General Assembly, and the plenary sessions, the tradition of the human tower or the creation of a new Atlantic region reflected this fundamental philosophy of MedCruise and the cruise industry as a whole.

Tarragona was the destination for the 64th General Assembly, which kicked off on the same day as the inauguration of the Tarragona Cruise Terminal and the 28th anniversary of MedCruise, founded in 1996.

The MedCruise General Assembly was marked by the presence of almost 200 delegates, including a record number of cruise lines representatives, ports and associate members, media representatives and travel experts thanks to the organization of Tarragona Cruise Port – Costa Daurada and MedCruise.

Delegates had the opportunity to participate in more than 648 B2B meetings and several networking events discovering the city of Tarragona and experiencing the Costa Daurada region.

During their Internal Affairs, MedCruise port members voted a historic decision creating a new «Atlantic Region» represented by 3 countries with the ports of Lisbon, Cadiz, Madeira, Tenerife, Azores, Leixoes, Cape Verde, Portimão, Huelva and Canary Islands ports. From the next elections, to be held in Malaga in September, Atlantic Ports will have a representative on the Board of Directors.

The Assembly also voted to rename and add to the current Eastern Mediterranean Red Sea area and, from now on, constitutionally mention this region as «Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea », joining the other regions – Western Mediterranean, Black Sea and Adriatic – that constitute the association.

The Assembly also voted to rename and add to the existing Eastern Mediterranean Red Sea area and henceforth constitutionally mention this region as «Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea », joining the other regions – Western Mediterranean, Black Sea and Adriatic – that constitute the partnership.

The event began with a session entitled «Women’s Power on the Waters,» moderated by Anne-Marie Spinosi and featuring Captain Kate McCue, Marie-Caroline Laurent and Figen Ayan.

Gender equality has not been explored in a feminist way, but the panelists and moderators demonstrated that our cruise industry welcomes both men and women, who have the dedication to deliver simply the best, regardless of their gender.

A holistic approach to sustainability has always been a dedication of this mandate and during one of the panels, they discovered how to create harmonious and holistic services in their ports and destinations with more sustainable onshore experiences by leveraging the expertise of associate members, improving passenger mobility and diverting traffic to lesser known attractions to alleviate overcrowding at major tourist sites and promote a balanced and sustainable tourism approach. This panel was moderated by Mark Robinson with speakers Choni Fernandez Veciana, Christine Manjencic, Turky Kari and Jeff Shieh.

Also deciphering and creating strategies to integrate smaller and mid-sized ports into cruise itineraries and sharing the experience of travel experts who have been to many ports with a panel moderated by Laura Cimaglia and featuring Giovanna Dipasquale, Francesco Rossiello,Stewart Chiron and Scott Eddy.

Thanks to boutique and luxury cruise companies, who are looking for new experiences on land, have explored a new theme by evaluating the possibility of expeditions in Antarctica or the Arctic also in our Mediterranean region. This was explored in a session moderated by Nicky Guerrero and attended by Spiros Almpertis, Hugues Lamy and Sacha Rougier.

An important topic for port management was the new border regulations that have been well prepared during another outstanding event «International Cruise Summit» in Madrid. Frontex, which is the key company doing the planning, has been with MedCruise to show members and cruise lines how EU ports can be well prepared thanks to a presentation made by Georgios Tsakalis, Frontex Senior Assistant, Passenger and Carrier Support Operator.

Finally, the sessions closed by exploring how ports and destinations can be inclusive also for the LGBTQ+ community with Queer Destinations, who also participated in last year’s ICS. This presentation was given by Edgar Weggelaar, Partner and CEO of Queer Destinations.

Figen Ayan, President of MedCruise: «This General Assembly was even more special for many reasons. Tarragona inaugurated its brand new terminal building and everyone present at our General Assembly celebrated this exciting event together. June 11 was MedCruise’s 28th birthday, founded by visionary ports. And we had also a record number of participation of cruise lines.»