(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, MARCH 30 - Cruise company MSC has set its
eyes on new routes in the Red Sea, Royal Caribbean arrives in
Bari and Messina, Costa Crociere is focusing on Greece, Spain
and trips to the Holy Land. These trends confirm that the
Mediterranean remains one of the most important areas for the
cruise sector. These facts became evident during the first day
of the Mediterranean Tourism Expo (BMT), which was opened today
in Naples and will stay open until Sunday evening.
Important news was also that MSC, owned by Gianluigi Aponte,
will start Red Sea cruises in November 2012, for the first time
also to Sharm El Sheik. The event in Naples was also an
opportunity to look at the performance of the cruise sector
after what Leonardo Massa, country manager for Italy, called
''the September 11 of the cruise sector, because of the media
pressure we have suffered,'' referring to the shipwreck of the
Concordia.
''The data,'' Massa explained, ''show us that reservations
dropped sharply in January and February, immediately after the
accident, but that they are improving now. In March we recorded
an increase in bookings from Italy, the country in which the
decline had been most noticeable. So there has been no
contraction of the market, people have only delayed their
reservations. But Italians still like to go on a cruise: 55% of
Italian holiday-makers,'' Massa continued, ''are ready to go on
a cruise in the coming 12 months, and even 84% of the group of
people who have already made a cruise in the past." Therefore
MSC has decided to continue making investments. The company has
announced the arrival of a new ship, Msc Preziosa, for 600
million euros.
Other news comes from the Royal Caribbean Group, which opens new
home-ports in Bari and Messina, from where the renovated
Spendour of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas will sail during
the whole summer season. Royal Carribean reports that the
company's ships will call on 14 ports in the centre-south:
Bari, Messina, Civitavecchia (the main Italian port for the
company with 193 calls), Naples (93 calls), Sorrento (19), Capri
(18), Catania (17), Salerno (16), Amalfi (15), Cagliari (4),
Brindisi (4), Palermo (2), Porto
Cervo (1) and Porto Empedocle (1), totalling 1.327.281 moved
passengers.
Costa Crociere is also present at the expo in Naples. The cruise
company confirms that the south of Italy is ''the centre of the
company's commercial development,'' as the group's management
confirms. At the BMT, Costa presented new connections to Spain,
the Balearic islands and Malta, as well as the ''Greek Islands
and the Holy Land''. (ANSAmed).
