The MSC Cruises executive chairman was speaking at the International Cruise Summit in Madrid.
He will be succeeded at the CLIA Europe helm by Kerry Anastassiadis the ceo of Celestyal Cruises who takes over the reins in January. Vago will continue to sit on the executive committees of CLIA Europe as well as Global, he confirmed.
Talking of European cruising's continuing growth, Vago singled out shipbuilding as a 'real treasure'.
He said, 'Europe is the centre for cruise ship construction and whilst it is being challenged by others, the know-how is here in Europoe and is here to stay.'
In addressing Spain, he highlighted it as Europe's second most popular destination behind Italy and the location for around 15 homeports, offering passengers plenty of choice for embarkations and allowing lines the flexibility to plan different itineraries.
On challenges, Vago stressed the need for port infrastructure to keep up with industry growth and that 'passenger comfort and security needs to be assured.'
He cautioned, 'do not risk being cut out of the ongoing growth of the numerous big ships that are being built.'
On regulatory issues he said, 'we are a consumer facing industry often finding ourselves the subject of speculative debate about our environmental footprint but there is nothing for the cruise industry to be afraid of as we continue to work towards making a zero impact on the environment.'
On the prickly issue of local passenger or tourist taxes targetted at cruise ships, Vago called them 'bad for our business in general' and warned that with ships being moveable assets past experience has shown that the long term impact to the local economy tends to be negative. 'If you start to think we are a rich cow, let me remind you ships move.'
Vago finished up by thanking outgoing CLIA Europe secretary general Raphael von Heereman for his dedication over the last two years and wished Anastassiadis the best of luck in his new role. Earlier, on Monday evening Vago hosted the CLIA Europe annual dinner which took place in Madrid for the the first time at the stunning Palacio Neptuno with around 130 guests including CLIA Global ceo Cindy D'Aoust.
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