What is Cruise Europe?
Cruise Europe is a unique and diverse grouping of Ports in northern Europe that was formed into an association in 1991 and today represents a membership of over 100 ports within four geographical regions, namely
The Baltic
United Kingdom & Ireland
Norway, Iceland & Faroe Islands
Europe West Coast
Background
Cruise Europe was formed 15 years ago. The organization consists of ports and tourism-organizations. Over the years Cruise Europe has grown considerably and today holds over 100 members in 29 countries.
The Organization Cruise Europe consists of:
Over 100 members
A Council
A Marketing Committee
A "Business development" group
Four Regional Committees
Each chairman for the regional committees report to, and are members of the council
The Vision
To be acknowledged as
“The most attractive cruise area in the world”.
The Objective
To create awareness and visibility of the region – Northern and Western Europe To help and assist the cruise industry To assist the ports and destinations in creating stronger visibility towards the cruise industry, partners and ultimately the end consumer To be the common strong voice to the cruise industry and EU To carry a strong graphical profile that helps the visibility of the association To present a strong brand statement to help us maintain our focus and goals
The Brand Statement:
”Cruise Europe is an association committed to promoting Northern and Western Europe as a world-class destination. Representing a strong network, it is dedicating marketing expertise to serve both its members and the industry. The unique qualities of each port will be accentuated as Cruise Europe creates the cruise destination of tomorrow.”
Description of the product
The Cruise Europe product is incredibly diverse, stretching from the southern part of the European Atlantic coast to the northern and Baltic countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Target Groups
Cruise Lines Travel Agents Tour operators – Shore Excursion specialists Passengers Crew National and Regional Tourist Authorities Travel Media Local Communities
MARKETING & PR Main strategy 2009
From a global perspective it is obvious that the core of our work and focus will lie within the development of a new Cruise Europe website. To create an attractive, informative, interactive and inspirational platform for internal and external communication with our target groups (primarily B2B, secondarily B2C) is crucial for further success and to maintain credibility within our industry. In addition to the ongoing activities such as the trade conventions, production of the year book (from 2010 only digital format) newsletters etc, the main focus and resources will be set aside for website development. The new Cruise Europe website will be introduced during 2009, and will be regarded as the main tool to communicate and to create awareness and business within our customer groups.
New corporate identity for Cruise Europe
To communicating the brand of Cruise Europe in a more clear and more visible way for the future, the expression of the corporate identity is extremely important. The following parts will be looked into;
Identity - brand statement
Tone of voice
Graphic guideline
Advertising layout
Signature
Essence of service: “To try to be above and ahead with an European creative angle and eye”
Activities 2009 - 2010
Cruise Europe Port Directory – printed and digital version (web based) Roadshow.to the U.S. - biannual Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention, Miami – annually Seatrade Cruise Shipping Exhibition Northern Europe, Hamburg - alternate years Seatrade Med, location changes – annually Increase PR activities
Activities 2010 – 2012
Travel agent seminars at relevant events and exhibitions such as Cruise 3Sixty or similar Destination seminars for cruise line reservation personnel in connection with US roadshow Further strategies to be developed regarding increased PR-activities:
- Stronger focus on Editorials
- Events in connection with trade shows and exhibitions that also highlight special traditions and cultural specialties, agreed upon at the AGM.
Ongoing marketing & PR
The Cruise Europe Website - development of new structure,
launch fall 2009 Cruise Europe News – quarterly (4 times a year) PR-activities to increase the visibility of the ports (web based) the different regions will be encouraged to give suggestions to various themes.
OTHER ACITIVITIES
Market research
Ongoing market research is essential to assessing current business climate and to anticipate trends and travel patterns. Our recognition of this fact and our continued support of research related activities is vital.
Maintaining relationships with the ECC and other associations
Continued cooperation with organisations such as the ECC, Medcruise, CLIA as well as the EU. Cruise Europe AGM – workshop and seminar programmes The marketing sessions that have been successfully introduced at our AGM’s, is worth constant upgrading. The presence and participation from the cruise industry is one of the most appreciated and well attended activities within the Cruise Europe year. The seminar programme should reflect the issues of mutual importance to the ports and cruise lines, and should be given an opportunity to discuss in panels and further workshops. Implementation of the marketing programme The implementation of the marketing programme outlined in this document hopefully can commence upon approval of this document.
Cruise Europe Marketing Committee, September 2009
