MIRAMAR, Florida--More than forty cruise line executives and about 35 destination stakeholders from the Caribbean, Central America, South America and Mexico gathered virtually on June 5 in an online meeting held by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA).
“While social distancing certainly is not normally a feature of our events, this may have served as one of the most important in our history.
“Our partners are planning for the restart of cruise tourism and its vital economic contribution that will help restore normalcy to people’s lives. … There is a clear purpose to everything we do during these trying times, and we know things can be even better as long as we work together,” said FCCA President Michele Paige.
“I can assure you the cruise companies are fully supportive of the FCCA, and I think it is really important to talk about the partnership and the collaboration we are all going to need as we prepare for, fundamentally, the rebirth of the entire cruise industry and cruise tourism around the world and, of course, particularly within the Caribbean, which is the heartbeat of the entire cruise industry,” said Royal Caribbean International (RCI) President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Bayley.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett gave the welcome address, which focused on how the Caribbean could weather the coronavirus crisis through proactive measures related to the cruise industry.
“The sign of great companies – or individuals or associations – is not what they do day-to-day, [and it – Ed.] is not what they have to do in normal business or their normal personal life; it’s how they behave when there is an adversity,” said Richard Sasso, Chairman of MSC Cruises’ United States (US) division.
Destination stakeholders also gave presentations during the meeting, including US Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism Joe Boschulte, Puerto Rico Tourism Company chief development officer Alejandro Caicedo, Barbados Ports Chairperson Lisa Cummins, Jamaica Vacations Limited Executive Director Joy Roberts, and Lela Simmonds of Port St. Maarten.
