Cruise Britain, a joint initiative between Britains ports and service providers, has celebrated the 10th anniversary with its summer event on the island of Guernsey.
As part of its remit to ensure that Britain remains visible as an attractive and viable cruise destination, the organisation is encouraging to see that for the 11th consecutive year, cruise passenger visits to Britain's ports continue to rise with the figure now standing at 1.642 million.
Cruise Britain?s own growth over ten years has seen membership, which is comprised of ports and service providers who work with cruise lines, grow more than 50% in that time period.
On June 26 and 27, its members convened in Guernsey and discussed how to further develop cruise business through British cruise ports, from Kirkwall on the island of Orkney to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. On the agenda were key issues such as tourism management, shore excursion development, enhanced welcome development programmes, cruise border control clearance and progressing industry engagement.
Members met politicians from the States of Guernsey?s Committee for Economic Development in recognition of how important the cruise business is to Guernsey.
James Stangroom, Chair of Cruise Britain, said: "All our members work tirelessly to develop and support the British cruise industry and to provide cruise lines and their guests with a seamless product and world-class service. We are delighted to be holding this event in Guernsey which has developed and grown its cruise offering significantly in the last five years and is now a major part of the British cruise product offering.
"Guernsey was a founder member of Cruise Britain and this is the first time that we have been able to visit and to showcase a tender port to a wide range of members."
Charles Parkinson, president of the committee for economic development, commented: "The Cruise industry is an important part of Guernsey?s developing tourism strategy and it makes an important contribution to the overall economy of the island. We are committed to continuing to develop and improve our cruise infrastructure, the cruise passenger welcome and experience as well as supporting the wider British cruise industry."
Mike Hopkins Director of Marketing and Tourism, States of Guernsey, said: ?As a long-term member of Cruise Britain, Guernsey has seen the tangible benefit membership brings to the island, as well as the important position Cruise Britain holds in the industry.?
He continued: ?We have 99 calls scheduled for this 2019, eight of which are inaugural calls, and we will continue to work closely with existing and new cruise partners to continually improve our offering. We feel privileged and also excited to host this prestigious event in Guernsey and to showcase our cruise product to the Cruise Britain membership.?
