To say that Italy excels in almost everything it owns, produces or exports is patriotic, but it doesn't deviate much from the truth of the facts.
Its cruise sector is one of its flagships: presented to the press this morning by Francesco di Cesare – president of Risposte Turismo – and by Franco Napp – CEO Trieste passenger terminal, the eighth edition of the Italian Cruise Day which will take place in Trieste at the Maritime Station on 19 October.
“Italy – said Francesco di Cesare – President of Risposte Turismo – confirms itself as a leading nation in Europe, and among the main ones in the world, in the cruise sector. It is a leadership of traffic, of economic and employment repercussions, of involvement of ports and territories, of participation in the business by a wide category of companies. To consolidate this position, however, and possibly make it grow further, mutual knowledge - especially between companies and ports - of priorities, intentions, areas for improvement is essential, understanding once and for all that there can be no structural growth if even only one of the rings of the mechanism did not find the necessary conditions to operate and achieve its growth objectives”.
The event will consist of study days, comparisons and debates on the latest trends, dynamics, production processes, players and perspectives of the sector in Italy, with the presentation of the new edition of the Italian Cruise Watch, the research report created by Risposte Turismo and which reports the most up-to-date and relevant data on the cruise sector in Italy, complete with forecasts for the coming year.
The requests for participation received up to today have been over 200, representing the various professional categories operating in the sector, including shipping companies, port companies, travel agents, tour operators.
According to the data disclosed in advance, at the end of 2018 Italy will be the first nation in the Mediterranean for the number of cruise passengers handled - boarding, disembarking and transiting - within its ports. Furthermore, the peninsula will be able to count on 6 cruise ports among the top 10 in the Mediterranean.
Civitavecchia will maintain the second position, behind Barcelona, both for the number of passengers handled corresponding to 2,452 million and an increase of +10,4%, and for ship calls on land at 770, +5,8%. As regards the updated projections relating to the end of 2018, Italian Cruise Watch highlights a growth both for the number of passengers handled in national ports of just over 11 million at +8,1% on 2017, and for ship calls at + 2,1% on 2017. In fifth place in the ranking, after Palma de Majorca and Marseille, Venice follows with 1,475 million passengers and 495 calls; seventh Genoa with 1,022 passengers and 224 ship calls.
“The eighth edition of Italian Cruise Day – continued di Cesare – will once again have information at the center of its formula, with an articulated program with renewed contents that will allow all participants to acquire new data, to update, to hear what's new in the industry. What will open in Trieste on Friday 19 October will be an edition particularly full of ideas, and I want to thank Trieste Terminal Passeggeri for the fundamental contribution, the sponsors and organizations that support the event, as well as obviously the speakers who will animate the round tables and interventions of what is now considered the reference appointment for the business community of the cruise industry”.
“The combination of Trieste and cruises – continued Napp – is a modern combination, even though the Stazione Marittima of Trieste has always had a deep bond with white ships. In fact, the transatlantic liners departed from our docks which in the last century brought thousands of Julians to seek their fortune in the world. In the second decade of the new century, an industrial consortium launched an ambitious project in collaboration with the Port Authority of Trieste: to relaunch the cruise industry in the Julian port. In more than five years, Trieste has hosted regular seasons and single calls, making the Maritime Station a flagship of Adriatic cruises”
