Tag Archives: cruise market

Australian cruisers increased 20% in 2013

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By Tom Stieghorst
The number of Australians who cruised in 2013 rose 20%, outpacing every other sizable cruise market, CLIA Australasia said in a report.

Australia’s growth surpassed Germany (9%), France (9%), North America (3%) and the U.K./Ireland (1%), according to the report’s executive summary.

Last year, 833,348 Australians cruised, up from 694,062 in 2012.

More than 11.7 million passengers from the United States and Canada cruised last year, according to CLIA. But Australia’s growth means that 3.7% of its total population has been on a cruise, exceeding the 3.3% figure for North America.

CLIA Australasia projected it will reach the 1 million passenger threshold by 2016; a previous forecast targeted 2020.

Optimism in the cruise market

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Optimism in the cruise market

By Tom Stieghorst

*InsightIs the cruise business in the process of turning a corner?

 

There’s no objective proof that it is, but as with improvements in the general economy, turning points are often discernable only in retrospect.

 

Subjectively, it feels like something is happening. Business feels like it is getting better. People feel primed to spend again, and travel is one of the areas they want to spend more money on.

 

Some travel executives have been saying this for awhile. “I do feel like travel is back,” said Michelle Fee, CEO of Cruise Planners, who noted her company is having a record year for both franchise and travel sales.*TomStieghorst

 

The legs for a turnaround are in place.  The stock market is consistently hitting new highs. Equally important, home prices have been resurgent for some time now. Unemployment remains a drag, but the jobless rate is several points below its peak of a couple years ago. Driven by a potential easing of tensions with Iran, oil prices have fallen for the past four months, which should give cruise lines leeway to offer better fares without destroying the bottom line.

 

The prevalence of fare sales and promotions suggest that the bedrock seven-night domestic cruise market is still in recovery. But cruise lines continue to make impressive gains in cost reduction, leaving room to fill ships profitably at somewhat lower prices.

 

Individual agents who are having good years are not hard to find. “Personally, my business has been fabulous,” said Muffett Grubb, a Cruise Holidays franchisee in Knoxville, Tenn., who said travelers are loosening their wallets to take cruises in Europe rather than the five-to-seven-day Caribbean trips of 2011-12.

 

Likewise, Rose Stevenson, who owns a Cruise Holidays franchise in Charles Town, W. Va., said she’s doing well and that clients have a comfort level with Alaska and Hawaii cruises they didn’t have before.

 

Kevin Weisner, president of Cruise Holidays, said that in the big picture, success depends on market segment. Once you take the first-time cruiser out of the equation, “business is very, very healthy,” he said.

 

Those consumers that have never been on a cruise became tougher to persuade after the Carnival Triumph incident in February. But memories of that incident are fading, and barring some sort of lightning strike for the third year in a row, the cruise industry could finally be on its way to the smooth sailing it used to enjoy routinely during a good economy.

 

If November turns out to be a tipping point, that’s something everyone in the cruise industry could be thankful for.

Cruise market will see ‘modest growth’ in 2012, says PSA

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Cruise market will see ‘modest growth’ in 2012, says PSA

Oct 04, 2011 06:00AM GMT

The growth in the number of British cruise passengers is to slow to just 1% next year, the Passenger Shipping Association has admitted.

This represents a slowdown from a projected increase of 5% this year and almost 6% in 2010.

Figures released at the Travel Convention in Palma show an estimated 1.73 million passengers will take a cruise holiday next year, a rise of just over 1% on this year’s forecast figure of 1.71 million passengers.

PSA director Bill Gibbons attributed the slowdown to fewer new ships entering service in 2012.

“Looking forward, we anticipate modest growth in 2012 as capacity slows following the reduction in the number of new ships being built,” he said.

“However, we remain confident that growth will continue over the coming years as companies introduce new ships including the 3,611 passenger vessel for P&O Cruises, the largest in their fleet, due for introduction in early 2015.

“The great choice of ships now providing cruise holidays from the UK to a wide variety of destinations will lead to more passengers sailing from British ports.”

The figures show that a record number of passengers are expected to depart on cruises from the UK in 2012 at 835,000, against 760,000 this year.

Gibbons added: “Cruising is expected to continue to outperform other areas of the holiday market with travel agents, who account for around 80% of sales, continuing to play an important role.”

The PSA expected seven new ships to enter service in 2012 for companies such as Carnival Cruises Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line and Oceania Cruises.