ACA on the global stage

OUR delegation has returned from another successful year at Seatrade Cruise Global in Florida with the team representing Australia, New Zealand, PNG and New Caledonia.

We kicked off with our Chair, Stephen Bradford signing a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cruise New Zealand which updates our commitment to jointly developing the cruise shipping industry in the Australasian region.

The agreement, first signed 11 years ago, has seen our organisations work successfully together on co-operative marketing opportunities, information sharing, representations to industry and government and joint participation at international trade shows.

ACA also participated in a meeting of cruise destinations and port associations including Cruise NZ, Cruise Europe, Medcruise, Cruise Baltic, Cruise Norway and Cruise Britain.

The goal was to share information and experiences which would help our regions deliver best practice outcomes for the cruise lines, work with destinations to develop their onshore offerings to meet cruise passenger requirements and provide representation to governments to deliver outcomes which will continue to strengthen the cruise industry.

This year, I was also proud to represent ACA on a panel which looked at the future of cruising in the region. Along with Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises; Harry Sommer, NCL and Gavin Smith, Royal Caribbean we looked at the opportunities and challenges that face us going forward.

Seatrade again allowed us the opportunity to reinforce the importance of our region as a cruising destination for international guests and left us feeling excited for the future.