Smart Destinations and Smart Mobility were the two key topics of the most recent edition of the Tourism Innovation Summit taking place in the Andalusian capital, Seville (Spain). AIVP, represented by Dr. José Sánchez, joined the panel focusing on sustainable cruise ports and the city-port connection. The roundtable took place on Friday 25th of October, and included as speakers Ms. Francesca Antonelli (Marketing & Cruises Manager of the Port of Valencia, Spain), Ms. Ana Lourenço (Director of Maritime Tourism of the Port of Lisbon), Mr. Nikos Mertzanidis (CLIA’s Vice-President, Ports & Destinations) and was moderated by the Director of Blue Economy of the Valenciaport Foundation, Ms. Carolina Navarro. The main discussion points were the innovative practices taking place in the cruise sector and port cities to reduce the potential externalities of the sector and increase the positive impact. While there are ports from all over the world making important investments to deploy OPS systems, social measures fostering dialogue and agreements must also be considered. All these measures have been discussed in the recent publication from AIVP and MedCruise presented in the last edition of Seatrade Cruise Global. The debate will continue in the forthcoming AIVP World Conference (27-29 of November), in the parallel track dedicated to cruises and port cities.
