Tag Archives: developing markets

CLIA: Capacity up in developing markets

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By Tom Stieghorst
CLIA’s annual report on the economic contribution of the cruise industry highlights growth in less developed cruise territories, including Asia, the Australia/Pacific region and South America.

The report said these three areas recorded 20% capacity growth in 2013 and accounted for more than half the global increase in available bed days. Europe’s capacity growth slowed from 18% in 2011 to 3.5% last year.

CLIA said the number of passengers carried in 2013 by its member lines rose 3.9%, to 17.6 million (river cruises are not included in the tally).

Bed days increased 4.8% because the average cruise was longer and capacity was higher, CLIA said.

Passenger embarkations at U.S. ports fell 1.3%, to nearly 10 million, the first time in at least four years that happened. CLIA attributed the decline primarily to redeployments to markets more distant from the U.S.

Direct spending by cruise lines, passengers and crew in the U.S. crossed the $20 billion threshold, rising 2.4% to $20.1 billion in 2013. More than 80% of that was for wages, taxes, and goods and services. Passengers and crew accounted for $3.63 billion in spending.

CLIA member cruise lines in North America showed a net increase of one ship in 2013, to 178, with a combined capacity of 338,505 berths, the study said.

Cruise must provide shareholder value to invest and grow

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Cruise must provide shareholder value to invest and grow

By Lee Hayhurst

Shareholder return is a vitally important part of the cruise industry if it is to attract more investment to allow it to grow, says Celebrity Cruises chief executive Michael Bayley.

Bayley told the Clia Columbus Day in Liverpool that profitability was a core component for cruise operators that need to invest billions of dollars to build new vessels.

“It’s incredibly important that we are providing an adequate return to shareholders and investors who put literally billions of dollars into the product. The marketplace for capital is very competitive. It’s not just available anywhere, people want to know that when they invest in whatever sector that they can get the return associated with any risk.

“We need to be able to encourage more investment. We need to introduce new brands and products and certainly need to introduce new ships. To achieve that we must achieve more revenue and reduce costs.”

Bayley, for instance, called for a more collaborative approach to port development in emerging cruise markets, the costs of which are currently passed on to the cruise lines which in turn pass them on to customers. “That’s really something that needs to be worked on,” he said.

Bayley added that the cruise industry must look to develop new sources of passengers like in the fast-growing markets of South East Asia, China and South America.