In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Clem Galindo, Senior Manager Global Corporate, Incentives and Charter Sales at Royal Caribbean.
I wanted to ask you about Royal Caribbean's participation in IBTM World.
Every year we participate in IBTM World and every year we are surprised with new clients, specifically those who have never traveled on cruises and want to offer their clients something different. Instead of returning to the same hotel or the same destination, they are very interested in different destinations like Alaska. We always meet new clients.
How many conventions are held on board and how has MICE performed for you or how much has it meant?
Well, this year has been very good for MICE, we have had many groups in the Caribbean, in Europe to the very famous Singapore for 3 nights, four nights there. A lot of incentive, a lot of meetings, this year we are going to end up with 22 charters and by next year and 2025 we also have more than 20. We have seen an increase in conventions on board, specifically because of the theater, which has a capacity of 1,350 assistants.
Now a whole event is coming, with a bigger, better boat. The ICON is coming in January, it has been a success and is the number 1 ship with reservations. More than 60% of the reserves have passed. The World is talking about ICON but we cannot forget about Utopia. Utopia follows and everyone is also asking us. We really noticed a great interest here at the fair in these types of boats.
What is the outlook for next year?
We believe that the mice and charters segment will continue to grow worldwide, we have big plans for Europe, we see that in mice there will be a very large growth, with rooms especially dedicated to meetings on board, free of charge to be able to use them on our ships. Furthermore, a global phenomenon is bleisure, which is an added value, because executives attend conventions, travel with their families, who have fun while that executive is working.