17 Apr
2009

Cruise Forum at the Travel Convention

ABTA is delighted to announce that a Cruise Forum will be an integral part of this year’s Travel Convention in Barcelona.

Organised in partnership with the Association of Cruise Experts (ACE), the Cruise Forum has been created as the Spanish city is the busiest cruise port in the Mediterranean with 700,000 passengers and 500 ships passing through each year and seven dedicated cruise terminals. While delegates are in Barcelona for the Travel Convention – between 6-9 October – nine ships will dock at the port.

Delegates who opt for the Cruise Forum will follow a separate agenda. So while all Convention delegates will enjoy all the official social activities and main plenary sessions, including a face-to-face interview with Micky Arison, the Chairman and CEO of Carnival - Cruise Forum delegates will benefit from specialist cruise business sessions, dedicated cruise networking, and ship visits.

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA said: “The cruise sector is very important to our industry, and we are  pleased that we can adapt the Travel Convention to exploit the opportunities that Barcelona has to offer and make the event work as hard as possible for our Members and delegates. The Cruise Forum is a very exciting development and we are also delighted that Fred Olsen Cruise Lines will, for the fifth year running be a headline sponsor of the Travel Convention.” 

Registration for the Travel Convention opens at the end of April and the Cruise Forum is open to Travel Agents and Cruise Lines. Further details will be available soon.