Cruise Lines International Association said it plans to focus more heavily in promoting the attractions of meetings at sea.
After releasing the State of the Cruise Industry report this week highlighting projected growth across all cruise segments, the meetings and incentive market is an area that has yet to be fully exploited.
CLIA executive vice president of membership and operations, Cindy D’Aoust – a former COO of Meeting Professionals International – plans to reach out to meeting planners.
"I’m a huge proponent of meetings at sea and I want to bring about more collaborations between meeting planners and the cruise business so we can grow all of our businesses together."
"The members of our panel mentioned how the various eating venues on so many of the new ships are exactly the types of venues that meeting planners and groups need now as meeting spaces," D’Aoust said.
"If you look at today’s ships, it’s all there. It’s about making the right match for the meeting and the right ship."
D’Aoust said mutual awareness and education is important to build these relationships.
"We want to deliver education to planners to help them feel more comfortable about the safety and health situations on the ships, for example, and to show them the variety of vessels available. Likewise, we want to educate our cruise industry partners about how to speak to planners. We’ve had some conversations with MPI to work together on this."
