CaribPR Wire

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten, Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The 21^st annual Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Conference & Trade Show opened today, gathering about 1,000 cruise tourism stakeholders and 100 cruise executives, presidents and CEOs from the 15 FCCA Member Lines, which operate over 100 ships in Caribbean and Latin American waters. The event offers a four-day agenda chock-full of business sessions, networking opportunities and chances to maximize cruise tourism’s impact, along with the attention and knowledge of cruise line personnel who decide where cruise ships call, what to sell onboard and if they should invest in destination infrastructure.

“The [FCCA Conference & Trade Show] gives you direct contact with some of the most influential decision makers in the cruise industry,” says Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line CEO and FCCA chairman.

The focus is on developing business, relationships and knowledge. The Conference’s business sessions offer this through one-on-one meetings, where attendees have up to three meetings with their selected cruise executives. Plus workshops share the executives’, presidents’, CEOs’ and stakeholders’ insight to help attendees learn about topics such as the cruise lines’ latest happenings and route for the future; creating and maintaining a successful tour product; developing a port in partnership with the FCCA, cruise lines and the private/public sectors; and increasing cruise tourism through a unified vision, collaboration between the private and public sectors, and continual product development and innovation.

“FCCA events always give me an opportunity to meet valuable industry stakeholders,” shares Adam Goldstein, president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “These are the people who have ideas and projects I want, and need, to know about.”

The Trade Show—the largest in the event’s history—allows exhibitors to target the influential audience looking to source new business and expand existing business. Any booth puts spotlights a product, company or destination, and specialized pavilions showcase a large company or destination as a team, with a roster including destination ministries, port authorities, tour operators and vendors.

Exposure is guaranteed through numerous events hosted there, such as a cruise executive preview before the official opening, an exclusive cocktail reception for cruise executives and Platinum Members, the Conference’s Wednesday night social function and the first FCCA Table Tennis Tournament, hosted by Adam Goldstein.

Traffic is also driven by a business center and the Trade Show’s location itself, with all attendees entering and passing through to access the Conference’s meetings, workshops, business sessions and registration.

Interaction between Conference delegates, Trade Show exhibitors and cruise line decision makers is further spurred by social functions planned by St. Maarten. And St. Maarten certainly plans to engage the attendees, as Port St. Maarten partnered with the government and local businesses to display its exciting setting, activities and WOW factor through some of the same experiences and venues that cruise passengers see and do.

In all, the FCCA Conference & Trade Show creates the perfect forum for exchanging information, sharing ideas and forging relationships. The continued involvement and invaluable insight of some of the cruise industry’s key decision makers, along with a ratio of about one cruise executive per 10 attendees, make the event one of the best ways to directly target the cruise industry and maximize its benefits.

About the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association
The FCCA is a not-for-profit trade organization composed of 15 member cruise lines operating over 100 vessels in Floridian, Caribbean and Latin American waters. Created in 1972, the FCCA’s mandate is to provide a forum for discussion on tourism development, ports, safety, security, and other cruise industry issue and to develop bilateral relationships with destinations’ private and public sectors. By fostering an understanding of the cruise industry and its operating practices, the FCCA works with governments, ports and private sector representatives to maximize cruise passenger, crew and cruise line spending, as well as enhance the destination experience and increase the amount of cruise passengers returning as stay-over visitors. For more information, visit F-CCA.com, the FCCA on Facebook, and @FCCAupdates on Twitter.

Media contact: Omari Breakenridge
[email protected]
Tel: 954-441-8881

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PEMBROKE PINES, Fla., Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA) annual keynote event, the Conference & Trade Show, has a 20-year history of increasing cruise tourism’s impact for its host destinations by spotlighting their products, experiences and infrastructure to the industry’s most influential decision makers—over 100 executives, presidents and CEOs from FCCA’s 15 Member Lines, which operate over 100 ships in Caribbean and Latin American waters.

St. Maarten is looking to build onto their past growth by hosting their second FCCA Conference & Trade Show from October 6 – 10. The destination knows the significance of hosting this event because of their progress after their first Conference in 2003. In 2001, St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies reported 875,540 passenger arrivals. This number rose 70 percent to 1,490,386 in 2005, just two years after hosting the Conference.

As the destination knows, these numbers extend far beyond the cruise pier; they impact the entire economy. According to the Business Research & Economic Advisors (BREA) 2012 study, Economic Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the Destination Economies, the average expenditure per passenger in St. Maarten was $185.40, which benefitted numerous industries through purchases of goods that included food and beverage at restaurants and bars, clothing, shore excursions, ground transportation, local crafts and souvenirs, watches and jewelry, perfumes and cosmetics, electronics, entertainment/night clubs/casinos, retail purchases of liquor, and telephone and internet.

However, this is hardly the only economic contribution provided by cruise tourism. The same study showed that the average expenditure per crew in St. Maarten was $135.50 for similar products and services. Plus it revealed the direct and indirect employment generated by the cruise industry, totaling 8,123 jobs and $159.8 million in employee wages.

By these numbers, St. Maarten’s 70 percent increase after hosting their first Conference would represent an increase of $114 million in passenger spending alone, along with the coinciding growth of crew spending, cruise line spending, and employment.

Projecting this same growth after this year’s Conference would be aggressive, considering that in 2014 St. Maarten expects 1.67 million passenger arrivals onboard 523 vessels from FCCA Member Lines alone. But a single cruise ship has a large economic wake. BREA’s figures show that just one average cruise vessel—130,000 GRT, 1,040 feet long, carrying 3,000 passengers and 500 crewmembers—would generate $556,200 in passenger spending and $67,750 in crew spending, along with roughly $15,000 in port fees, totaling $638,950 in direct economic contribution, not including employment and other indirect contributions.

Projecting a more conservative growth rate of 20 percent, or 105 additional cruise ship calls, would mean an extra $67 million per year directly contributed to St. Maarten’s economy. Plus a 20 percent increase in cruise tourism-impacted employment would represent 1,625 more jobs with $32 million in wages.

Considering this potential economic impact, it becomes easy to understand why St. Maarten again decided to invest in its entire destination’s economy by hosting the FCCA Conference & Trade Show.

About the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association

Created in 1972, the FCCA is a not-for-profit trade organization that provides a forum for discussion on tourism development, ports, safety, security, and other cruise industry issue and builds bilateral relationships with destinations’ private and public sectors. By fostering an understanding of the cruise industry and its operating practices, the FCCA works with governments, ports and private sector representatives to maximize cruise passenger, crew and cruise line spending, as well as enhance the destination experience and increase the amount of cruise passengers returning as stay-over visitors. For more information, visit F-CCA.com, the FCCA on Facebook, and @FCCAupdates on Twitter.

CONTACT:  Omari Breakenridge 954 441 8881 [email protected]

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