In early December, the world's largest cruise ports association «MedCruise» launched an online marketing campaign aimed at resuming sea travels in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The goal of the campaign is to show the attractiveness of Odessa, the “tourist Mecca of the world”, in the run up of the cruise routes developing for 2022–2023 by tour operators.

At the initiative of Odessa Port Authority, the marketing campaign includes a demonstration of the tourism potential of Odessa, Constanta, Burgas and Varna, passenger ports which are members of the Black Sea Working Group for the development of Black Sea tourism.

A promo video of these ports presents the architectural, cultural and ethnic richness of North-Western Black Sea region, and shows the possibilities of the tourist infrastructure available in the region: passenger terminals in seaports, airports, hotels, entertainment and other travel facilities. The Odessa’s part of the presentation video was provided to the Odessa Port Authority by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Odessa City Council.

To date, this promo video by the Black Sea Working Group has already been posted on the three main media resources of the Association MedCruise: its official website, Facebook page and Youtube channel.

The Black Sea Working Group was created in May 2018, at the initiative of Odessa port Authority, with the representatives of the passenger ports of Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and «MedCruise» Association. In October 2018, an international conference dedicated to cruise shipping revival in the Black Sea was held in Odessa.

Since 2014, cruise operators have not favoured the Black Sea region. This is due to the wars, Russian-Ukrainian and Syrian, as well as the unstable political situation in Turkey. The Covid-19 pandemic finished off the industry.

Source: MedCruise