Atlantic Alliance

T +49 40 30051 393
palatz@hamburg-tourism.de
www.atlanticalliance.eu

Creating an itinerary on line

NADINE PALATZ
Atlantic Alliance

As befits one of the most recently-formed associations of cruise ports, it is the worldwide web which has quickly become the strongest and most effective marketing tool for the Atlantic Alliance.

In fact, the whole concept for the Alliance (launched in March 2008) was contemporary and innovative as it aimed to promote not just the merits of the individual member ports but also the potential for whole itineraries incorporating different groupings of them.

Since it went online in December 2008, the Atlantic Alliance website (www.AtlanticAlliance.eu) has provided access to port and destination information including a calculator to give accurate distances between ports.

Now we are developing further innovative online tools which will include one for consumers called “create your own itinerary” and one for cruise lines which will help them find new itineraries to meet different criteria. Exactly how this will work, we are keeping under wraps until we launch the new web tools this September.

As well as news and information (including special events) about ports and destinations, the website also offers suggestions for themed cruises.

These include itineraries based on: Food and Wine, the Must-See Capitals of Europe, Unique Masterpieces - UNESCO World Heritage, Trace the Roots - the Emigrants Cities, Shopping and Shows and Art and History: Galleries and Museums.

These are possible because our original members have risen by two since the start-up so that we now have 17 top ports and destinations stretching from Germany to Portugal and encompassing the best of Europe’s history, culture, food, wine and shopping.

They include Hamburg and Bremerhaven (Germany), Ijmulden, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Zeeland (Netherlands), Antwerp (Belgium), Dover and Portland (UK), Le Havre, Cherbourg, Nantes, La Rochelle and Bordeaux (France), Santander and Vigo (Spain), and Lisbon (Portugal).

“Now we are developing further innovative online tools which will include one for consumers and one for cruise lines”.