MedCruise Opens Palermo General Assembly With Record Meetings
The Palermo program also marked MedCruise’s thirtieth anniversary, with Theodora Riga citing fifteen new memberships and the city’s role as a founding member.
MedCruise opened its 68th General Assembly in Palermo on June 9, bringing more than 240 attendees and representatives of 27 cruise companies to a four-day program hosted by the Port System Authority of the Sea of Western Sicily. The meeting, held through June 12, included more than 700 business-to-business meetings between member ports and cruise line executives, the highest total recorded for a MedCruise General Assembly.
The Palermo gathering combined MedCruise’s regular port-and-cruise-line meetings with the association’s 30th anniversary programming. Agenda items included geopolitical pressure on cruise deployment, Mediterranean itinerary planning, changing passenger expectations, digital and AI-driven communication, accessibility, innovation and destination management.
Record meetings and 15 new memberships
Theodora Riga, president of MedCruise, addressed the assembly.
“Celebrating 30 years of cooperation while achieving record participation from members, cruise lines, industry stakeholders and 15 new memberships demonstrates the strength of our Association,” Riga said.
Professor Thanos Pallis presented the latest MedCruise State of the Industry Report during the assembly, with a review of operating trends, market developments and the outlook for cruising across the Mediterranean and adjoining seas.
The event also included a 30th-anniversary panel on the cruise sector’s development over the past three decades, with discussion of innovation, sustainability, partnership and resilience. Attendees took part in cultural visits, tours and networking events in Palermo and Sicily, including a gala dinner at Villa Boscogrande and a farewell dinner at Villa Tasca.
Palermo hosts during MedCruise anniversary week
The host authority oversees Palermo, Trapani, Termini Imerese and Porto Empedocle in the Western Sicily port system, and Palermo’s cruise terminals sit close to the city center.
MedCruise dates to June 11, 1996, when 16 ports from seven countries founded the association in Rome. Riga said Palermo was an appropriate host city because it was one of the founding members.
MedCruise said it will continue to focus on cooperation, innovation and sustainable growth as it enters its fourth decade. The association did not name the 15 new memberships in the announcement.
