The Palacio de la Magdalena hosted the inaugural session and the Technical Days of the 30 Cruise Europe Conference, which have been attended more than a hundred members of this international organization that groups more than one hundred ports in northern Europe, operators and operators, operators and Companies related to the cruise sector.
In the inaugural session the Minister of Innovation, Industry, Tourism and Labor of Cantabria, Eduardo Arasti; the president of the port of Santander, José Joaquín Martínez Sieso; The Councilor for Tourism of the City of Santander, Gema Equal, and the president of Cruise Europe, Michael McCarthy.
José Joaquín Martínez Sieso, highlighted the responsibility involved in the port of Santander, host of the meeting, the 2015 Conference organization in Santander and Cantabria, since they are responsible for large cruise operators. The objective, he added, "is to make ourselves known to a greater extent within the sector, establish relations with ports of the environment and with companies that can bring to Cantabria important cruises."
In 2014, the port of Santander is the one that had the largest number of passengers on the Atlantic facade of Spain, with a total of 223,970 people, but only a small percentage of them, 15,000 went from cruises. According to Martínez Sieso "there is a large margin of improvement and raising the number of cruise members in the port of Santander." As elements of value to enhance this sector, he highlighted the excellent institutional collaboration with the Government of Cantabria and the City Council of Santander, as well as with local operators, which, he said, "allow to offer the tour operators a lot of confidence." For Martínez Sieso, Cantabria offers the traveler a very special experience, since it has a quiet port in the city center and an offer of outstanding leisure and gastronomy activities for cruise tourism.
Gema Equal highlighted the magnificent opportunity represented by the one that the Cruise Europe Conference celebrates in Santander to ask companies to take into account Santander to bring Cruises to the city. The head of Tourism of the City Council, who referred to different initiatives in which Santander is present as the Atlantic Cultural Way that encompasses 15 European cities, told those present that one of the objectives is “working together with the port of Santander, the Government of Cantabria and the organizing companies to create new circuits for these tourism ships ”.
He also explained some of the cultural projects that are underway in the capital such as the Botín Center and the associated headquarters of Reina Sofía that, he said, "in a few years they will change the center of Santander." Finally, he addressed those present with a proposal: "Put yourself in the place of a cruisery and imagine Santander as a scale for one or two days or as a start or termination port or cruise completion."
Eduardo Arasti, on the other hand, thanked the members of Cruise Europe for their presence in Cantabria, since, he said, "this meeting places Santander in the spotlight of the sector in Europe."
The counselor made a tour of the main tourist resources of the region, with references to Paleolithic art and the Cuevas Heritage of Humanity, but also referred to the natural wealth of Cantabria, with 37 natural spaces among which the Picos de Europa . He also wanted to make clear that Cantabria and Santander continue to enhance tourism and doing things "so that visitors who come feel more comforted." For Eduardo Arasti, which offered data from the tourism sector in Cantabria that represents 10.95% of the regional economy, it is extraordinarily important to "continue working, and collaborating with all administrations and with companies in the sector."
After the opening, the technical days began with the presence of responsible for some of the most important cruise operators at the international level such as Pullmantur, Tui Cruises, Holland America Line, Cruise & Maritime Voyages, Carnival UK and noble Caledonia.