The Port of Dover is to host what is billed as the biggest stand-alone luxury cruise event of the decade.

Ultra-luxury ships, business sessions and speed networking have been lined up for delegates to the CLIA UK & Ireland Luxury Expo at Dover Cruise Port on September 2 and 3. They will have dinner at the award-winning Canterbury Cathedral Lodge.

James Lohan, entrepreneur and co-founder of Mr & Mrs Smith, the travel publisher and luxury hotel travel service provider, is to give the keynote speech.

The UK's second busiest cruise port will be home to three luxury ships during the expo - Crystal Symphony, Crystal Serenity and Seabourn Sojourn.

Tim Waggott, chief executive of the Port of Dover, said: “We are proud to be hosting such a prestigious event and to have the opportunity to showcase our facilities as part of our award-winning commitment to present the very best of Dover and the wider county of Kent.

“I want the Port of Dover, its customers and its community to be aiming for the best and to benefit from the success of the UK’s second busiest cruise port. Through such an event as this, and with the calibre of speaker it is attracting, I hope we can do just that.”