The announcement that North American cruise liners would move to European waters this summer confirmed that “the Old World is now becoming the New World” of cruising, Pierfrancesco Vago, chief executive officer of MSC Cruises said at the annual Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention in Miami.
Mr Vago, who was invited as a guest speaker to bring a European perspective to the prestigious event which attracts over 10,000 international delegates and 983 exhibitors, said he was proud to give an overview of the Old World which had become the fastest growing cruise market globally with a dramatic 163 per cent increase in passengers alone in just 10 years.
“Europe was declared ‘the hottest story in cruising’ two years ago by the authoritative publication USA Today and there is absolutely no doubt that it has remained so,” said Mr Vago, who was recently appointed to the executive committee of the Cruise Lines International Association, the world’s largest cruise association dedicated to the promotion and growth of the industry.
“The cruise industry in Europe has overcome the economic storm with remarkable resilience, skill and success. The market is second only to North America, accounts for 30 per cent of the global share and keeps on growing. In addition its cruise-ship capacity will be up to an astonishing 23 per cent this year.
“Our current level of five million European cruisers was achieved in North America in 1997, so in many ways we can say that Europe is becoming the new Caribbean as a destination of choice,” said Mr Vago.
He said he was utterly confident that the European Cruise Industry had a brilliant future, which could well be illustrated by the record-breaking growth experienced by MSC Cruises itself since 2003. Indeed passenger numbers has leapt from 127,000 to 1,220,000 in seven years and a brand new 12th MSC cruise ship would be launched in 2012.
“Europe is undoubtedly the top destination on anyone’s dream vacation list. Cruising the Mediterranean and Baltic seas has become the new iconic way to do the traditional Grand Tour especially for Americans, and increasingly for the Chinese and Indians too,” remarked Mr Vago.
Europe has also become a year-round destination. In 2009 there were a total of 152 cruise ships sailing in Mediterranean waters carrying three million passengers on almost 8000 cruises.
“Our cruise ships are decidedly European in style with a focus on the highest standards of service, onboard gourmet experiences and dreamy cultural excursions in enchanting cities like Rome, Venice and Barcelona.
This is quite different to the wow and fun factor of the American way.
“We also have the unique capability of embarking from multiple ports and pride ourselves in dealing with more than six languages at the same time. The European market distribution follows a very special door-to-door pattern and our VAT rules can be complicated and disparate.” (Source: MSC Cruises)