Cruise Scotland Network

The folowing article appeared on the Seatrade Insider news website on Friday 21st September 2007 and can be seen there, for a limited period only, by clicking on  www.cruise-community.com/Headlines.asp McNeece rallies Scottish ports to unite With Scottish port of Greenock (Glasgow) playing host to QE2’s 40th anniversary celebrations yesterday, cruise industry veteran and native Scotsman, John McNeece, made a rallying cry for Scottish ports, destinations and tourist attractions to take advantage of the business potential presented by the rapidly expanding cruise industry. McNeece has been associated with passenger shipping for around 40 years through his architectural practice, which he sold in 2002. Since then he has actively assisted companies in improving their penetration of the cruise industry through his marketing and public relations company, The McNeece Consultancy, based in Edinburgh. He is calling for Scottish ports to unite under one banner using the ‘Cruise Scotland Network’ brand, with the objective of making Scotland the number one cruise destination in Europe. McNeece, who is putting himself forward as the full-time project manager said, ‘Efforts to bring more cruise business to Scotland are left to individual ports with several ports and areas doing a great job. However, there is no national strategy and feedback is that the ports would welcome some assistance that such a concept may deliver.’ According to Cruise UK, there were 392,000 port of call passengers at UK ports in 2006. Of these, Scotland attracted 175,700, a 45% share of the UK market and 6% more than the south of England, which was the second most popular area. The leading Scottish cruise ports are Greenock, Invergordon, Leith (Edinburgh), Lerwick and Orkney. ‘These figures are encouraging,‘ said McNeece, ‘but there is still much to be done if Scotland wants to take full advantage of the expanding market potential.’ Whilst a dozen or so ports/areas are dealing with cruise lines separately, McNeece feels there is no national voice or objective and that they tend to work in isolation. McNeece said his next step is to put this concept before the ports/areas, agree costs in principle and prepare a strategic plan which will take around 36 months to roll out completely.