The 29th annual Cruise Shipping Miami conference and exhibition opened today at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The show runs through Thursday, March 14.
UBM Live, owners and organizers of the Cruise Shipping Miami conference and exhibition, anticipate a strong increase in attendance at the cruise industrys premier event.
The annual cruise industry gathering usually draws around 11,000 attendees, but is on track to welcome an increase of more than 8 percent in visitors and delegates to the threeday exhibition and four-day conference. The trade show will feature more than 900 exhibiting companies from 123 countries.
Cruise Shipping Miami kicks off today with the World Cruise Tourism Summit, a series of roundtable discussions led by industry experts. The conference continues Tuesday, March 12, with the State of the Industry plenary session, followed by four concurrent sessions in the afternoon. The exhibition officially opens Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. and closes Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.
In addition to the debut of a Green Cruising Pavilion and presentation lineup, the exhibition also features the premiere of the Amusements and Recreations Attractions Pavilion, featuring the latest in computer, arcade and video gaming, and amusement park, slides and water rides.
Other industry sectors represented in the trade show include destinations, ship equipment, information and entertainment technology, design and refurbishment, ship services and hotel operations and food and beverage. Major country pavilions include Italy, Spain, Germany and France.
The 2013 conference program has been revamped with a series of more concurrent 90-minute sessions and a host of first-time panelists.
Developed by UBM Live to be more in-depth and content-rich, the conference lineup is the result of solid research and feedback from Cruise Shipping Miami attendees, cruise lines and industry organizations. Conference sessions are organized into four streams that will thematically link sessions daily Tuesday through Thursday. The streams are Shipbuilding, Operations and Technology; Destinations and Ports; Market Segments, and Product Development.
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Article and logo courtesy of Cruise Shipping Miami. Miami Photo: Mike Faust
