WHY IT RATES: The new membership opportunity creates a community for hotel operations and food and beverage (HFB) professionals. -Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Senior Writer
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is accepting applications for a new Executive Partner membership community for the hotel operations and food and beverage categories which allow these key aspects of the cruise holiday experience unprecedented access to decision-makers from more than 50 global cruise lines.
Julia Brown, Chief Procurement Officer, Carnival Corporation and Chair of the new CLIA HFB working group, said: "CLIA is predicting that more than 30 million people will take a cruise in 2019, and there will be more than 110 new ocean-going vessels deployed over the next eight years. This new community for hotel operations, food & beverage professionals will greatly enhance our ability to drive efficiencies and meet the growing demands of provisioning our worldwide fleets."
CLIA hosted an inaugural event for this new community in Miami in November last year, and thanks to overwhelmingly positive feedback, applications are now being received from the wider hotel, food and beverage sectors.
The gathering last year saw 80 procurement professionals from hotel and culinary operations at the world's largest cruise brands, and 200 suppliers, meet for a day of business sessions and more than 700 one-on-one meetings.
The new HFB community joins a well-established Executive Partner Program which has nearly 400 global partners who engage in four different communities. This fifth HFB community will provide a number of partner benefits throughout the year which includes several live engagement networking opportunities.
The CLIA HFB working group consists of procurement leadership from the world's largest and most significant cruise brands who have pledged their full support and resources to all HFB events. The 2019 HFB calendar starts with a forum and reception at Seatrade Cruise Global in April, followed by similar engagements at The National Restaurant Association's 100th-anniversary trade show in May, ANUGA Germany in October and the CLIA annual HFB Business Conference in November. Beyond the planned live engagements, there are numerous other promotional benefits afforded to HFB members.
"As a Diamond partner of CLIA's HFB community, we welcome this new opportunity to join collectively with other CLIA HFB peers, to solve industry-wide challenges and optimize the supply chain management for all of CLIA's cruise line members," says Kasper Sommer, Global Head of Cruise & Marine Logistics, Blue Water Shipping.
Sommer continues; "Blue Water Shipping is heavily invested in the Cruise sector. Our decision to join at the Diamond Partner level was driven by our desire to bring our vast experience to the table, meet existing and potential new customers and support the cruise lines and their global association".
CLIA Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships Bo Larsen, commented: "We are very excited to launch this new community, so far the response from suppliers has been incredible. We look forward to our next engagement during Seatrade Cruise Global, April 10th at the Miami Beach Convention Center where we will host a number of Business Sessions targeting the hotel operations, food & beverage segment, followed by a networking reception."
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