NEWS SPECIAL REPORT
MSC Cruises hosted agents and VIP guests on board its newest ship, MSC Seaside, in Italy last week. Lucy Huxley reports from Trieste
MSC Seaside Aurea spa
The ship’s 105-metre zipline
Onorato: Growth plan is not insane
MSC Cruises has defended itself against accusations it is pursuing an “insane” growth strategy, claiming demand will still outstrip supply even after all its new ships enter service. The line confirmed it would
exercise an option for two further ships, on top of the 10 already on order to join the fleet between 2017 and 2026. Chief executive Gianni
Onorato said: “Cruise is the only sector that represents just 2% of the total tourism industry. The potential is huge. “In Europe, only 6.5 million people are cruising. That’s just half of the number cruising in North America. To reach North America’s number in 13 years, we would need more ships than the shipyards have room to build. There just aren’t the slots available to meet the demand.” UK & Ireland managing
director Antonio Paradiso added: “Some might say we’re insane. We are not. We are humble, but we see the opportunity to extend our business and the UK and Ireland is the number-one priority.”
MSC aims to double
MSC Cruises is to increase capacity out of Southampton in summer 2019 by replacing MSC Magnifica with the larger and newer MSC Preziosa. Preziosa entered service in
March 2013 and is the last of the line’s four Fantasia-class ships. It carries 4,345 passengers, 740 more than Magnifica, which began operations in 2010. MSC Cruises chief executive Gianni Onorato said it was all part of an ambition to become “the leading international player in the UK market” within five years. He said: “MSC represents 10% of the cruise market worldwide and we need to reach 10% in the UK. We are currently just under 5%, but with Magnifica next summer and Preziosa the summer after, we will do it – but not without the strong support of the trade. “99% of our efforts will go on our
travel agents. It’s not our strategy to go direct. As has happened in other markets such as Brazil, Italy and France, where we have become the leader, it’s been driven by agents, and we believe with their help we can do it in the UK.”
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travelweekly.co.uk 7 December 2017
“99% of our efforts will go on our travel agents. It’s not our strategy to go direct”
Speaking at the launch of the line’s newest ship MSC Seaside in Trieste last week, Onorato said MSC would secure agents’ support, not just through healthy commissions but by investing in a product that gives agents
Meet your steward before you board
MSC Cruises will send personalised videos to future guests made by the cabin steward and dining waiter who will look after them when they come on board. Explaining the line’s plan to
employ more technology and elements of the ‘virtual world’ on its ships, chief executive Gianni Onorato said: “Before our customers even come on board, they will receive video messages from the captain and also their cabin steward and wine waiter who will show them around their cabin and their table in the dining room before they get on board.”
He said: “It’s about combining
technology with the human relationship, which we believe will make a real difference to what we are offering and a USP for MSC ships.
“It is all about enriching our guests’ experiences.”
Chief executive Gianni Onorato
PICTURES: IVAN SARFATTI
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