The speaker line-up for this year’s edition of Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific, which will be held in Baoshan, Shanghai, from October 9 to 11, have been confirmed.
Colin Au, chairman, Genting Hong Kong; Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International; Arnold Donald, president and CEO, Carnival Corporation and Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman, MSC Cruises will be taking the stage at the three-day event to discuss the state of the Asia-Pacific cruise industry.
During the conference session, which will be held from 15.10-16.30 on the second day of the event, these senior cruise line leaders will provide insights into the recent development of the cruise industry in Asia-Pacific.
The speakers will discuss and present topics including market dynamics, address the challenges in each sector of the industry, and share their current and future plans for the region.
Recent figures from Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) 2019 Asia Cruise Deployment and Capacity Report show that this year will see a total of 1,917 sailings, and generate capacity for four million cruise passengers in Asia. Some 39 cruise brands are now active in Asian waters, deploying a total of 79 ships.
This year’s total passenger capacity has reduced by 5.7 per cent year-on-year after several years of rapid expansion. The decline was mainly due to the reduction of short cruise itinerary options from China. Nevertheless, the 13 million passenger destination days forecast in 2019 will translate to more potential onshore visits from cruise passengers, creating a stronger tourism impact for destinations across the region.
In terms of destinations, CLIA suggests that Asian passengers prefer to stay closer to home with a massive 90 per cent of sailings taking place within Asia. Shorter sailings also remain the dominant choice of Asians with an average sailing duration of 4.9 days – the lowest amongst source market regions in the world.
The following topics will also be discussed during the three-day event: The development of source markets in Asia-Pacific, the sustainability of cruise tourism in Asia, an update on China’s cruise shipbuilding and repair sector,
trends in Asia-Pacific deployment and Asia ports infrastructure update.
More details about the full programme can be found here.
