Throughout the conference, delegates heard about the most critical issues facing the regional cruise market; including the positive outlook for the Chinese market as more and bigger new ships are planned to debut in 2020 and 2021.
The first day of the event saw two familiarisation trips – both starting with Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal and then heading on to either Shanghai Museum of Folk Arts or the Wendao Gardens. The day ended with a Welcome Reception and Dinner at The Delta Hotel by Marriott.
Day two saw the start of the immersive conference programme, which was opened by Andrew Williams (President, Maritime Group, Informa Markets).
Williams thanked the event hosts and co-organisers Shanghai Baoshan Municipal People’s Government; Shanghai Culture and Tourism Bureau, Shanghai Traffic Committee and Shanghai University of Engineering Science for their 'support, professionalism, passion and drive in not only making the event possible, but in driving the cruise industry development in China, and also our 2019 sponsors and supporters.’
The second day was host to three exclusive announcements: Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley revealed the name of the first Oasis-class ship due to arrive in Shanghai in mid 2021; Genting Cruise Lines’ newbuild ‘Global Dream’ coming to China for Dream Cruises in 2021 will feature the first ever theme park at sea including the world’s longest rollercoaster on the ocean; and China’s first Cruise Tourism Development Demonstration Zone located in Boashan was unveiled by Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qjang. The zone, approved by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is designed to expand business and industry with the objective for Shanghai to become a top international cruise port.
“Shanghai will further optimise its business environment to drive the development of cruise lines in the city”, commented Qjang.
The final day of the conference programme consisted of a busy schedule including sessions covering: Regional Cruising, Asia-Pacific Source Markets, Innovation in Cruising, An Update on China’s Cruise Shipbuilding and Repair Sector, Trends in Asia Deployment, The Strategy Behind Ship Financing and Planning and Updates on Asia Port and Destination Infrastructure. Two summit sessions also took place, with a focus on international cruise research and cruise talent education. In addition, Peter Kollar, Head of International Training & Development, CLIA Australasia provided an engaging Travel Agent Training session to an audience of 100 travel agents which was sponsored by MedCruise.
Mark Robinson, CCO, Global Ports Holding closed the day’s conference sessions with ‘Updates on Asia Port and Destination Infrastructure – What’s New and What’s Improved’ sponsored by Bloombery Cruise Terminals which is building two port infrastructure projects in the Phillipines.
The session addressed included representatives from Halong Bay, Yokohama, Melaka, Guangzhou Nansha Ports who all spoke about their investment in new infrastructure.
In the ‘Update on China’s Cruise Shipbuilding and Repair Sector’ session, sponsored by Bernhard Shulte Cruise Services GmbH & Co.KG., Lyu Zhiyong of China Cruise Technology Development Co. Ltd. (CCTD) announced the company is setting up a new company for the cruise ship supply chain in China.
Special thanks to diamond event sponsors Carnival Corporation & PLC and Royal Caribbean International and platinum sponsors Genting Cruise Lines.
Details for Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific 2020 will be confirmed in due course.
