With thoughts on the forthcoming cruise season, cruise tourism officials from Antigua and Barbuda met this week with senior representatives of various European based cruise lines, to discuss upcoming itineraries and plans.
The meetings took place during the Seatrade Europe show held in Hamburg Germany. Seatrade Europe is the biennial meeting place and trade platform of the European cruise industry attracting over 3,000 participants from 270 organisations bringing together senior buyers and planners from the cruise lines with suppliers from all sectors.
The Antigua and Barbuda delegation included, CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Colin James, Nathan Dundas, President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association, Conrad Pole, Manager of the Antigua Pier Group, Antigua and Barbuda’s Honourary Consul in Germany, Dr Werner Giersch and Maria Blackman, Marketing and Communications Executive from the Tourism Authority's UK & Europe office.
"Antigua and Barbuda relies heavily on cruise arrivals to boost total overall visitor arrivals, with cruise tourism accounting for approximately 70% of total visitor arrivals to Antigua.
"Without a consistent flow of cruise passengers many of our tours and attractions and local businesses cannot survive”, said the CEO of the Tourism Authority, Colin James.
Coming out of Seatrade, James said: "The good news is, we will see an increase out of Europe this season with the addition of the Costa Luminosa with 3,000 passengers, the return of TUI cruises Mein Schiff 1 and 2 after an absence earlier in the year and for the first time welcome Kristina Cruises, a Finnish ship making 10 calls with over 300 passengers.
“Seatrade was an excellent opportunity for us to re-establish contact with; meet new cruise lines and provide attractive packages that will secure our spot on cruise itineraries for upcoming seasons."
At the show, the delegation presented a number of incentives introduced by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to encourage cruise lines to visit the destination in the summer months, vital for the economic viability of the sector.
President of the Cruise Association, Nathan Dundas said, "We have particularly spent the last three days communicating the incentives to our European cruise lines with the hopes that it will reshape our 2012 summer and give us a more positive outlook."
Dundas commented that he was optimistic about the 2011/2012 winter season, and the focus was now on growing the summer business.
Traditionally, Antigua and Barbuda receives the bulk of cruise calls during the winter months.
“Antigua along with the rest of the Caribbean is considered a winter destination. Our aim as cruise stakeholders is to change that perception by competitively marketing Antigua as a winter and as a summer destination”, said Dundas who expressed pleasure in the public/private sector partnership geared towards supporting the growth of the industry.
One incentive being offered to visiting cruise lines is the opportunity to receive two unique island experiences in Antigua and Barbuda while incurring only one head tax, provided that ships spend a second day visiting Barbuda.
With cruise lines facing rising fuel prices, challenging them to balance costs while still keeping rates affordable to fill cabins, the cruise executives welcomed this and other new incentives on offer by the Government.
“The feedback to the incentives from our American and European markets has been quite positive,” said Conrad Pole, Manager of the Antigua Pier Group. “The cruise lines we have met both here and at our recent meetings in Miami are all echoing the same sentiment that, every little bit helps, so this is encouraging news for 2012.”
The 2011/2012 winter season will see four new cruise vessels visiting Antigua ports. The destination is expected to benefit from approximately three hundred and sixty four calls recording an approximate 20 percent increase over last year’s 2010/11 winter season calls.
At Seatrade, the delegation also updated the industry and several top cruise publications on what's new in the destination, such as latest tourist attraction, the Wadadli Animal Nature Park and the improvements to the Heritage Quay duty-free shopping facility. To further enhance the marketing of the country as a premier cruise destination Antigua and Barbuda secured an exclusive 8 page marketing brochure to be included in welcome packs for all delegates at the March 2012 Miami Cruise Shipping convention.
