President of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association Michele Paige believes the association’s forthcoming conference in Grand Cayman is to be the best and biggest one they’ve ever had.
Organisers of the upcoming Florida Caribbean Cruise Association conference, set for 31 October to 3 November in Grand Cayman, anticipate record attendance this year. |
Already there are 900 delegates signed on for the 13th annual FCCA Cruise Conference and Trade Show, and the FCCA is forecasting that the total will be 1,200.
The largest one to date has had a little over 1,000 delegates, Ms Paige said.
‘Grand Cayman is a favoured itinerary for cruise passengers so this conference will be heavily attended. The cruise delegates will all be rallying to be here,’ she noted.
The conference is being staged here from 31 October to 3 November.
Ms Paige believes the conference will be the best because Grand Cayman has had more time to prepare than any other destination, and because of the quality of tourism product is has. ‘Just look at what Grand Cayman has to offer,’ she said.
The island was to originally host the conference in October 2004, but the venue was moved to Barbados after Hurricane Ivan inflicted major damage to Grand Cayman the previous September. The FCCA had assessed Grand Cayman and decided to move the conference to it for 2006.
One of the key pluses with the timing of the conference is the chance to showcase the island’s new product offerings.
These include the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, Boatswain’s Beach and the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal, each of which will play host to a night extravaganza party to take place 31 October, 1 and 2 November.
‘This is fantastic,’ said Ms Paige of the new offerings. ‘There are new products, new tours and a new attitude and enthusiasm. I think it’s going to be phenomenal,’ she said.
She did note that a lot is expected of the Cayman Islands for this conference. ‘The expectations are very high,’ she said, adding that it will be up to the government to pull out all the stops to make this conference exceed these expectations.
Also new for this year’s conference is a fireside chat lunch with the CEOs of the member lines, which is being hosted on 1 November at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.
When asked about some recent sluggish sales for Caribbean cruises, Ms Paige denied that it is because cruise passengers are tiring of some of the traditional stops such as Grand Cayman or Cozumel, as reported in a recent St. Petersburg Times article.
‘It has nothing to do with demand for the Caribbean,’ she said. ‘This has more to do with the weather, economy and fuel prices,’ she said.
Ms Paige added that this is an issue that Chairman of the FCCA and Chairman and CEO, Carnival Corporation Micky Arison would address in his keynote speech at he official conference opening Wednesday morning, 1 November at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.
The Cayman Islands’ government, in conjunction with the private sector, is in charge of the organisation of the social events for the conference, while the educational sessions are being co-ordinated by the FCCA.
Host hotels for the conference are the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, the Westin Casuarina Resort and Sunshine Suites.
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