20thAnnual FCCA Conference and Trade Show Proves Successful for Colombia and All Attendees

Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (October 3, 2013) – The FCCA Conference and Trade Show closed today, with attendees’ overwhelming sense of success and achievement still lingering as the thousand professionals from the cruise industry and cruise destinations’ private and public sectors head back to their home countries.

They will have plenty to ponder during their trips, as the four-day conference sessions engaged the attendees with one-on-one meetingswith nearly 100 FCCA Member Line cruise executives from various departments, such as operations, purchasing, marketing and shore excursions and even thepresidents and CEO’s.

Also on their minds will be the event’s workshops that provided insight into the cruise industry, cruise lines’ itinerary planning, destination brand building, marketability and customer satisfaction, shore excursion operations, service and safety, and more.

Even the social functions will be relived. Proexport Colombia proved the answer was Colombia to the question of who could createsuch stunning settings, complete with traditional music and food. Yet the engaging environments offered more than pure amusement; they gave additional chances to target the cruise executives and other industry players to foster communications and develop valuable business relationships. Additionally, attendees could connect with the prominent stakeholders in attendance, including successful tour operators, destinations’ private sectors—complete with their ministers—and even the president of the Republic of Colombia, His Excellency Juan Santos Calderon, who opened the Conference.

Of course, the Trade Show also made an impression on all attendees, as it combined awing, creative booths with innovative and varying products, from tour operators and tourism departments to custom bed sheets and produce, along with all of the entertainment, handouts and delicacies supplied by the booths.

Better yet, the Trade Show will remain on the executives’ minds, as it displayed destination and individual products to this elite audience of key cruise industry decision makers. Exhibiters had prime opportunities to get noticed in a venue where cruise executives consider new business; foster existing business; and impart knowledge on what the lines seek in products,shore excursions, port operations, destinations/infrastructure, etc.

The FCCA Conference and Trade Show again granted the best chance for entities doing or wishing to do business with the cruise industry to increase their contact base with cruise executives; present their destination or product; and learn what cruise lines seek in shore excursions, products,services, destinations and ports of call. It helped attendees establish a clear vision that will map the road to success in future dealings with the cruiseindustry.

The FCCA prides itself in joining cruise destinations’ private and public sectors with FCCA Member Line executives. It is a symbiotic relationship between them; the more that the destinations and companies progress and learn about the industry, the more that the industry is able to grow and thrive. The FCCA promotes this mutually beneficial connection in most of its operations.

To learn more about the Conference and Trade Show or the FCCA, please visit www.f-cca.com.