Three vice ministers from China's National Customs, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of National Culture & Tourism will address this year's Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific taking place next week in Baoshan, Shanghai between October 23-25. In addition, Lei Fan Pei, president of CSSC is among keynote speakers as well as Madam Wong Hong secretary general of the CPC Baoshan District of Shanghai Municipal Committee.
A strong cruise line executive line up sees participation by Stuart Allison, SVP Asia Pacific Commercial and Operations, Princess Cruises; Sarina Bratton Chairman Asia Pacific, Ponant; Torstein Hagen, chairman, Viking Cruises; Dr Zinan Liu President of China and North Asia Pacific Region, Royal Caribbean International; Pierfranscesco Vago, executive chairman, MSC Cruises; Mario Zanetti President, Costa Group Asia and Kent Fuming Zhu President, Genting Cruise Lines during the State of the Regional Cruise Industry discussion.
Made in, and for, China
Conference sessions at Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific 2018, held in a joint commitment with Shanghai Baoshan Municipal People’s Government; Shanghai International Cruise Business Institute and Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal, also include China’s next Golden Decade in Cruising: how to balance growth and sustainability; a Made in, and for, China shipbuilding and repair panel including examining the opportunities for technical suppliers in this growing market and development of source markets throughout Asia Pacific and development of source markets throughout Asia Pacific.
An interesting discussion is also planned about How can cruising leverage the growth of China’s Outbound Travel market. China's outbound travel market has benefited from the increasing population in Chinese middle-class which has resulted in a group of people with bigger buying power and more willingness to purchase mid- to high-end travel products.
Fam trips
Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific will begin with a familiarisation trip to Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal followed by an evening welcome reception. Day two will begin with an Opening Ceremony on October 24.
Travel Agent Training
Travel Agent Training is also part of the programme to run alongside the busy conference programme and delivered by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and sponsored by MedCruise.
The workshop will be delivered by two industry stakeholders: Peter Kollar, Head of International Training & Development, Cruise Lines International Association and Carla Salvadó, Honorary President, Member of the BoD and Director of Mature and New Source Markets, MedCruise.
‘The objective of MedCruise during the Travel Agent Training workshop is to educate attendees about the attributes about the Mediterranean region, of which are appreciated by the Chinese market,’ said Salvadó.
‘A key objective of the MedCruise strategy for China is to raise the awareness of cruising across the Mediterranean region to the Chinese market. With so many destinations and cultures, the Mediterranean is the ideal sea for cruising and its attributes compliment the factors that the Chinese consider when travelling across Europe,’ she concluded.
