The 50th MedCruise General Assembly was formally opened this morning by Nicky Guerrero, chief executive of the Gibraltar Board of Tourism, which is hosting the event; Thanos Pallis, general secretary of MedCruise, Kristijan Pavić, president of MedCruise, and Captain Bob Sanguinetti, CEO of the Gibraltar Port Authority and Captain of the Port.

In attendance were some 130 delegates representing 50 ports, stakeholders and service providers in the Mediterranean and its adjoining seas along with representatives of Silversea, Disney Cruise Line, Celestyal, Saga, Crystal, Carnival UK, Royal Caribbean, Thomson and MSC Cruises.

Said Guerrero: “To give you an idea how the association has been growing, when Gibraltar hosted the event back in 2006, it was attended by 66 delegates. Today, eleven years later, we have 130 delegates.”

Pavic thanked Gibraltar for hosting the anniversary event and also noted the tremendous growth the cruise industry is enjoying.

Pallis focused on the cruise traffic in the region and its positive trend overall, while the Eastern Mediterranean is experiencing what he called “some difficulties.”

According to Sanguinetti, Gibraltar can handle even the largest that afloat easily. “The cruise industry is a fundamental part of the port,” he said. “We are predicting a 10 percent increase in terms of calls and passengers for 2017.”