POSIDONIA Sea Tourism Forum Digital 2021

Since July 2020, Dubai has opened its borders to international in a bid to show its resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so it has also attempted to place itself as a regional tourism and economic hotspot.

Dubai opened up after receiving the ‘Safe Travels Stamp’ from the World Travel and Tourism Council, validating the measures undertaken by the emirate to ensure the safety of inbound travellers.

Gradually industry-specific events returned with the adoption of Covid safe practices and held under stringent precautionary measures instituted by relevant authorities.

At the end of 2020 Dubai hosted the region’s biggest in-person technology event, as it continued to cautiously allow live in person events. The Dubai Airshow will take place this year bringing together experts and participants from commercial and business aviation, defence and military, aircraft interiors and air traffic management, etc. The 2019 edition of the event saw 84,043 trade visitors, 1,200 exhibitors, and over UK£38.5 billion in signed orders. The 2021 edition will focus on emerging technologies, startups and future transport and sustainability.

As time goes on the importance of in-person events are valued even more by all involved and rated far higher than digital events. Research shows that visitors chose live events for many reasons, like the quality of networking and educational content to finding new suppliers and conducting business. For exhibitors, in-person events saw them gain a greater ROI (return on investment) and brand representation.

POSIDONIA SEA TOURISM FORUM DIGITAL 2021 SET THE STAGE FOR THE REBIRTH OF CRUISE TOURISM IN POST-PANDEMIC EUROPE

Europe’s biggest cruise companies have already deployed 18 vessels in the East Med and other European destinations and plan to ramp up their operations with 28 ships in June and 50 in July, before reaching this summer’s maximum target of 60 operational cruise ships in August.

More than half of these vessels will be deployed in Greek waters. 40 cruise ships are expected to operate in Greek waters and 45 ports have their own contingency plans developed to facilitate cruise ships without affecting the experience of passengers, crews or the local communities.

Greece has successfully developed a tourism product capable of offering a sense of trust as a safe destination that is fully prepared to weather the consequences of the pandemic.

Already, more than 200,000 passengers have taken a cruise safely since the end of last summer, and this year the East Med shows the way with an early start which may help Greece become a permanent country of embarkation.

But uncertainty as to when cruise operations can recommence at a viable level to sustain the industry is one of those challenges.

Many cruise lines are offering limited itineraries as not all destinations are open to tourism yet, like Asia and America. This has the benefit of more people opting for European cruises of which many sail from Greek waters.

Over-tourism is definitely a thing of the past but equally we don’t want too many ships at the same time in the same ports. Islands need to have a plan on the number of ships they can accept at the same time. And port operators need to have the infrastructure to accept bigger ships.

All cruise lines have invested heavily in ensuring better grade air filtration and new on-board protocols such as one way systems etc, the opportunity has been to build back better, in a staggered and responsible way in the post-Covid world.

The standardisation and uniformity of protocols across the industry is also necessary to avoid confusion for passengers and different countries sailed to on each cruise. Although necessary to begin sailing again, the pace to normality may be very slow as cruise lines ensure they protect themselves against the risk of Covid-19. If all goes well, pre-covid levels of cruise passengers could be seen by late 2022-2023

With a programme of thought-provoking panel discussions and 21 exhibitors showcasing their offering on the interactive and engaging digital platform, PSTF 2021 was the first cruise industry event to gather the key decision makers of the sector since the mid-May resumption of cruising in the East Med.