Asia Cruise Forum 2013 to Highlight Quality of Tourism Products and Services

In the interest of ensuring that high quality cruise shipping tourism products and services are delivered throughout Asia, the driver of the upcoming inaugural Asia Cruise Forum 2013, Globalports Pte Ltd (Singapore), will be initiating a new frontier for the establishment of a comprehensive and collective industry training and accreditation framework for Asia’s tourism operators and their auxiliary supporters.

Key initiatives will be tabled to achieve consensus amongst industry players, partners as well as tourism bodies and maritime authorities in defining global standards in training and accreditation to improve industry credentials.

“We are working very closely with the Asia Cruise Terminal Operators Network (ACTON) and the Asia Cruise Association (ACA) to identify major training needs that could span the entire service spectrum relating to cruise passengers and cruise ships. Such insight will enable us to develop a relevant suite of industry-driven courses and accreditation system. The aim is to deliver high quality passenger experience needed to develop sustainability and profitability for the cruise shipping industry, community and destination,” says Bryan Tay, Director of Globalports Pte Ltd (Singapore).

Such targeted training focus and accreditation framework for Asia’s tourism operators and auxiliary supporters in the peripherals will raise service skills and standards to a higher level of professionalism designed for sustainable tourism in this fast moving market. “The result will create an appealing and fully satisfying vacation experience for cruise passengers across the Asian destination network,” explains Tay.

A ship passenger’s experience in a destination can be greatly swayed by the quality of the services and the personal interactions with host industry service providers during their journey and stay. Given the varying degrees of cruise tourism development across the Asian destination network, such training and accreditation will ensure that all tour operators and industry supporters attain competency levels befitting the development focus and service intent of each destination, albeit with an acceptable common service denominator.

“Meeting passenger expectations generates positive word of mouth, offering potential repeat visitation and long-term customer loyalty which otherwise can undermine the industry’s business profit and long-term success. Training will include how to maintain professional standards in dealing with cruise visitors, offering services and sharing information,” explains Kevin Leong, General Manager, Asia Cruise Association.

Topics of the training and accreditation framework will be discussed at the upcoming inaugural Asia Cruise Forum 2013 co-initiated by Asia Cruise Association and the French Riviera Port Authority. A full announcement about the forum will be made at ITB Asia 2012, the trade show for the Asian Travel Market, on October 17.

Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong is expected to be one of the choice destinations to play host to the forum. A decision will be announced later.

Recently, Globalports Singapore had signed an exclusive agreement with the French Riviera Port Authority to promote and market an Asian version of the French Riviera Cruise Club. The agreement will include two-way collaboration to share and impart solutions, necessary tools, and know-how in their respective areas of expertise such as developing consistent standards in the management of destination clusters.

“We have initiated discussions with Singapore Tourism Board and we both see alignment of objectives. Both parties agree to have further discussions with the aim of evaluating a proposal for collaboration to develop a more vibrant cruise playground that benefits all industry stakeholders in this region.” says Henry Teh, Executive Director of Globalports Pte Ltd (Singapore).

[mappress]

Source: Globalports, September 24, 2012