Cristina De Gregori reappointed on the Board of Directors as delegate of the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority.
On 4 November, Barcelona hosted the 59th General Assembly of MedCruise, the Association of cruise ports and stakeholders in the Mediterranean and its adjoining seas, which for the first time since 2019 brought together members in-person on-site to elect the new President and Board of Directors for the next three years 2021-2024.
In total, 68 MedCruise members voted and elected Figen Ayan of the Galata Port of Istanbul as President. Three Italian port delegates were nominated on the newly elected Board of Directors: Cristina De Gregori ranked second place in the category "Large Ports" and first amongst the Italian ports, followed by Valeria Mangiarotti of the Sardinian Sea Port Authority, and Silvia Coppolino of the Ionian Sea Port Authority representing the "Small Ports".
Many are the challenges which will need to be faced over the next three years: as cruise activities begin to revive, the Italian Cruise Watch report recently published by Risposte Turismo points to a return to pre-pandemic levels only towards the end of 2022 and the start of 2023.
The full list of the 2021-2024 BoD members is as follows:
Large Ports
- Senior Vice President: Francesca Antonelli, Valencia-Spain (47 votes) | West Med
- Cristina De Gregori, Genoa, Savona-Italy (37 votes) | West Med
- Valeria Mangiarotti, Sardinian Ports (33 votes) | West Med
- Elisa Zamora, Tenerife Ports-Spain (32 votes) | West Med (at-large)
- Aris Batsoulis, Corfu-Greece (31 votes) | Adriatic
- Aziz Gungor, Kusadasi, Bodrum-Turkey (24 votes) | East Med
Small Ports
- Vice President: Lorenzo Vera, Motril-Spain (52 votes) | West Med
- Jamil Ouazzani, Tangier-Morocco (42 votes) | West Med
- Anne-Marie Spinosi, Bastia, North Corsica Ports-France (42 votes) | West Med (at-large)
- Silvia Coppolino, Taranto-Italy (38 votes) | Adriatic
- Theodora Riga, Thessaloniki-Greece (32 votes) | East Med
- Doru Mihai, Constantza-Romania (27 votes) | Black Sea
