The Port of Motril held the training cycle “Motril as a Cruise Destination”, an initiative that seeks to strengthen the skills of staff in commerce, restaurants and other tourist services, as well as local agents involved in cruise passenger care.
Thus, for three days, a brief, practical and specialized training on the cruise industry was offered, in order to improve the visitor experience, consolidate the positioning of Motril and the Costa Tropical as a reference destination within the Mediterranean cruise circuit and bring the industry closer to the local business fabric.
“With this proposal, Motril reaffirms its commitment to excellence, training and collaboration between institutions, companies and citizens as pillars to consolidate its role within the cruise segment. The destination of Motril and the Costa Tropical have enormous potential and this program is one more step to strengthen our position, promoting service quality, port-city coordination and local economic development,” stated the president of the Port Authority, José García Fuentes.
The mayor of Motril, Luisa García Chamorro, for her part, emphasized that it is a very important day “in which all the involved actors such as commerce, catering, tourist services, transport and administration come together under the same purpose, to turn Motril into a reference destination for the cruise passenger.”
This initiative is supported and promoted by two fundamental platforms for dialogue and management between the Port of Motril and the city; the Port-City Commission and the Cruise Working Group, which include representatives from the economic sector, the city council and the port, with the common goal of improving the destination’s coordination and competitiveness.
The training cycle was structured into three main sessions. One was Introduction to the Cruise Industry, to understand the global functioning of the sector; another, Case Study: Cádiz as a Cruise Destination, with the participation of the Port Authority of Cádiz and its business and community networks; and Destination Preparation for the Cruise Passenger, developed with the collaboration of Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services, focused on improving the tourist experience and local operations.
“The Port of Motril, the main infrastructure of the Costa Tropical, has consolidated its capacity to attract cruise lines, the result of a strategic effort. This emerging reality not only redefines our tourist business model, but it represents an opportunity for transcendental change and a major challenge to boost the socioeconomic development of the entire coast,” said Julio Rodríguez, president of the Motril Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation.
For her part, Carmen Filip, president of the Motril Association of Retailers and Hospitality Professionals, highlighted that “each cruise ship that arrives at our port represents a real opportunity for our shops, bars and restaurants. This cycle not only trains, but unites the port, commerce, hospitality and the entire city in a common vision: that of a welcoming, prepared, competitive Motril with its own identity.”
As the culmination of the cycle, a practical workshop will be held on November 26th aboard the cruise ship Norwegian Viva, which will offer participants a direct and guided experience to learn from the inside the structure and operation of a cruise ship, the passenger’s journey from their disembarkation and the key elements of port operations from the ship’s perspective.
