Following CLIA’s decision to include ports and destination bodies as members, Michele Witthaus talks to global director of port engagement and business development, Bo Larsen and chair of the global ports committee, Giora Israel about the wider implications
The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Global Ports Committee was established in February this year to enable the fast-expanding organisation to engage with port communities worldwide on operational and strategic issues. Chaired by Giora Israel of Carnival Corporation, the committee includes Tom Spina of Norwegian Cruise Line, Gianluca Suprani of MSC Cruises, and John Tercek of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. At the same time, CLIA redesigned its Executive Partner programme, with the appointment of Bo Larsen in a newly created role supporting Didier Scaillet, CLIA global VP of business development.
The global expansion of CLIA has been ongoing for the last couple of years with new chapters – Germany, Spain, France, Belgium and Italy being the latest recruits – joining at intervals. But the association’s growth entered a new phase well beyond its traditional focus on cruise lines and the travel agency world as it opened its doors to the world’s cruise ports and destinations.
Larsen previously led Cruise Baltic and is keen to bring the benefit of his experience as a port representative to his new role. “CLIA now has 250 executive partners worldwide and 20 global partners, and our Executive Partner Programme connects groups such as ports and suppliers with our cruise line members. I want to maximise opportunities and business for all parties involved. The programme is about connecting different groups such as ports and suppliers with the right people. It is constantly developing, depending on what our partners and markets need.”
The sheer speed of CLIA’s growth explains why a strong port focus is needed, says Giora Israel. “The best way to understand the global port committee is really to understand the evolution of CLIA from a North American organisation that initially was engaged only in matters of training travel agents, to a global organisation about five years ago. It emerged into an organisation that deals with broader issues of the cruise industry as that industry has expanded globally into Asia, into Australia, dramatically extending its reach into European countries and other areas of the world like the Arabian Gulf and so on.”
Israel says rapid growth of the cruise industry in Europe and other regions in recent years promoted a rethink on CLIA’s part over how to tackle industry development and communications. That in turn led to the merging into the global CLIA of cruise associations around the world. Ports are the latest frontier in this inexorable growth.
“Today CLIA is a unified organisation that has merged 14 international cruise associations,” he explains. “Now we are one voice, one industry, with 64 members. It’s quite an extraordinary organisation and in addition to a variety of objectives and activities that we have, it became very clear that engagement with ports and destinations is critically important. We wanted to create a platform where we can engage with our partners around the world, and to give those partners the opportunity to engage with us and become partners with us. After all, we are in it together.”
Not least among the benefits for port members is access to the cruise industry’s global decision makers, says Larsen. “Every member line has a seat and we discuss issues and opportunities. Destinations must be available and ready for the cruise lines we bring in.
“Some ports have been very active and engaged in the industry. But not all the key players are necessarily educated in understanding how the cruise lines work or how planning takes place. Many ports have been targeting 1,500-guest ships – and suddenly they get Royal Caribbean International with 4,000 guests getting off in their ports.” Indeed, Larsen works in close collaboration with Royal Caribbean’s Adam Sharp, who is the chairman of the Ports & Destinations committee in Europe, on many issues such as these that affect CLIA’s port members.
“A lot of new ports are entering this industry and are eager to get a share of the pie,” says Larsen. “They are often very experienced in shipping, oil or container markets and see cruise as an added value ‘since we have the berth’. They need to be fast-tracked to raise their level of understanding of the industry. We can do this in the executive partner programme, connecting them to the right people. The same goes for port associations.”
What reassurances does CLIA have for existing regional port associations that may have concerns regarding their continued viability now that the global association is wooing their members?
“We have welcomed those associations’ activities, have cooperated with them in the past, and will cooperate with them currently and in the future,” says Israel. “They are really engaged in regional promotion of their areas. Joint promotion creates extraordinary value for small ports in particular. We see those associations continuing to exist and we encourage their existence.” However, he adds: “Some associations have grown in recent years and some have faded away. I know one port that is a member of four different associations so whether all of them are needed or required – that is really up to those ports and associations.”
The USP that CLIA offers ports and destinations is simple, in his view: “Joining CLIA means suddenly being in partnership with the cruise lines. CLIA is cruise line centred, and this means having at the same table all the industry partners. Also, CLIA is dealing with regulators. So it’s not only a narrow aspect of the port. The CLIA forum is the one forum where you really sit with the industry together at one table.”
Larsen adds: “We are now starting to speak to ports getting into business for the first time. For US$25,000, members get a fast track to the decision makers and get brand traction at global level. We also offer the option of becoming a regional or national member.”
During his years at Cruise Baltic, Larsen says he recognised the value an organisation such as CLIA could offer. “I had interests in five or six of the major source markets and CLIA had platforms in all those markets. A lot of the questions from my ports were about new legislation challenges: ‘How does this impact us?’
“The best money I ever spent at Cruise Baltic was when I joined the Passenger Shipping Association (now CLIA UK and Ireland). Combining that with membership of the European Cruise Council and access to Robert Ashdown and his team – how much money and time that saved me! They gave me access to the top cruise executives, who were present in our Cruise Baltic meetings with ports.
“I was also paying memberships in many different countries. Now with CLIA it’s all in one, including a free economic impact study.” Back when he was running Cruise Baltic, he recalls: “Trying to get speakers to my events took time and resources – all port associations are trying to get access. In the value proposition we give our global partners, we guarantee a speaker for an annual event or a least to connect them.”
Larsen does not believe established regional associations should be threatened by the declared aim of CLIA to continue growing its port membership. “CLIA is entering the market of the port associations. I don’t see this as a competition. It’s a natural development – such a huge business needs a strong industry association.
“It comes down to closer communication. We need open dialogue and discussion. By engaging, you can set the agenda. It’s a matter of understanding what we provide. Ports should be thinking: ‘If CLIA can do this for us, maybe we can focus on something else’.”
Israel sees a complementary role for country-based associations representing a range of ports of all sizes. “Obviously there are small ports in Spain or in Italy or in Northern Canada or in Southern China that need to have their own voice. Carnival Corporation for example goes to 706 ports this year alone, and not every one of them can reach us.”
However, he believes that only an organisation with CLIA’s leverage can really manage the bigger global port and destination issues. “I think what is very important for all of us to grasp is that this industry is not a regional industry, we are a global player. And indeed the geopolitical situation in one part of the world immediately is impacting deployment and decisions to other parts of the world. We are impacted by issues of joint promotion and regulatory matters. Regional associations need to see that there are bigger issues at stake and we would be the platform to show how these regions and countries and ports fit into the global picture and to offer a platform for it.”
With the aim of attracting more members, CLIA organised a Ports & Destinations Summit on 15 September in Barcelona. Larsen explains: “Growth, particularly in Europe, needs to be part of setting the agenda. We want port associations and destinations to see the value we provide. Any port agency organisation or DMC – not just existing members – can meet more than 25 key decision makers in this session. We help them connect in a more effective way and it is hugely beneficial.”
This article appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2014 edition of International Cruise and Ferry Review. To read other articles, you can subscribe to the magazine in printed or digital formats.