CruiseCopenhagen has presented its new 2024 strategy, which focuses on sustainable growth.
According to a press release, the framework of the strategy is the UN Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring that sustainability is a central factor of the strategy. CruiseCopenhagen said that the cruise industry’s growth is challenged globally by factors such as sustainability and local community support. Therefore, it said, the CruiseCopenhagen 2024 strategy revolves around these challenges.
According to the press release, the UN Sustainable Development Goals provides a “comprehensive framework” to the new CruiseCopenhagen strategy. The board has chosen and prioritized working with three guiding goals: Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Communities and Partnerships for the Goals.
“To embark on this journey, we need to establish partnerships that contribute to sustainable cruise tourism and promote the network’s current sustainability efforts. To do so, we will do a mapping of the efforts of our partners and make agreements with relevant sustainable companies,” said Claus Bødker, director of CruiseCopenhagen.
An analysis of the local community support will be accompanied by this mapping, CruiseCopenhagen said. According to it, some of the most common perceptions and possible efforts to ensure local community support have already identified. For instance, it said, a “popular opinion” among locals is that cruise guests spend very little money during their stay in the city.
“The truth is that the cruise industry contributes to 1.68 billion euros annually. We need to change the narrative and tell the real story about cruise tourism in all of Denmark. This also applies to perceptions about the emissions of cruises – we back OPS, but we realize that it is not possible in each port without public funding. We cannot stress enough that sustainability is highest on the agenda in the cruise industry,” Bødker noted.
CruiseCopenhagen said that these actions are consistent with the four pillars of the new strategy: effective marketing, focused involvement of the local communities, improved image and uplifted guest experiences.
