A tale of two regions: cruise travel trends in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean

Christian Savelli is a seasoned professional with decades of experience in research and intelligence and joined Tourism Economics from Cruise Lines International Association, where for more than six years, he served as Vice President, Research and Business Analytics. He has a rich background in developing business intelligence solutions, conducting analysis and research, and synthesizing input from multiple sources to deliver executive recommendations. Before CLIA, Savelli was the Senior Director of Business Intelligence and Research at MPI (Meeting Professionals International) and Director of Business Intelligence at Maritz Travel. Additionally, he has ten years of experience in the hotel industry and holds an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC-Chapel Hill.

Helen is a Lead Economist within Tourism Economics, with more than a decade of experience in economic modelling and consultancy.

She specializes in tourism forecasting, tourism economic impact analysis including Tourism Satellite Account analysis and providing bespoke scenario analysis which caters to a range of client needs. She also manages the Global Travel Service (GTS) and Global City Travel (GCT) services, which provide timely forecasts of bilateral tourism flow across 185 countries and 300 cities, as well as other core tourism indicators including overnight stays and tourism spending.

In addition to her regular forecasting work, Helen also plays a lead role in Tourism Economic’ consultancy services. Key projects that Helen has been involved in include the Oxford Economics Economic Impact Research, produced on behalf of the World Travel & Tourism Company which measures the contribution of the travel & tourism sector to the wider economy across 185 countries worldwide. Helen is also responsible for producing quarterly forecasts for the hotel industry across a range of markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia in partnership with STR. Further, Helen plays a lead role in providing ongoing support ranging across a spectrum of tourism initiatives with Qatar Tourism Authority, which includes providing forecasts of travel demand to Qatar and detailed accommodation forecasting to aid QTA in developing key policy initiatives.