Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry and now attracts over a few million passengers each year. Cruise industry has seen an exciting growth in the entire leisure travel segment. Since the year 1990, the industry has had an average growth of around 7.4% per annum.
Some of the published statistics show that since 1980, more then 150 million passengers have taken a deep water cruise (2 days or more), out of this number 37% of the passengers i.e. approx. 56 million have cruised only in the past five years.
The cruise market has a very strong potential and maintains high occupancy levels. In the year 2009, there were approx… 17.8 million Cruises and the projected numbers for 2017 were 25.8 million passengers.
The demand for cruising has increased by 62% from 2005 to 2015 – a period of just 10 years.
The Leisure cruise products are well diversified which offers a vacation to all age groups and travellers. Cruise company regularly add new destinations, new ship design concepts, new on board, on shore activities, new themes and new entertainment options. Since the cruise companies constantly evolve and improve their offerings, they also attract repeat customers in addition to the new clients.
The cruise industry’s product delivers unparalleled customer satisfaction. Whether the frequent or the first time cruiser, the cruise experience consistently exceeds expectations on a wide range of important holiday attributes. On a comparative basis versus other holiday categories, cruising consistently receives top markets. The on going challenge for the industry is to convert the cruise prospects into new cruisers.
A few points which has seen Steady Cruise Industry growth :
– Rise of river cruise industry
– Addition of new ships, upgrading of old ships
– Increase in the number of travel agents selling cruises ships globally and the agents continue to be the matchmakers between passengers and cruise liners.
– New and younger generations also getting interested in cruising
– Cruise liners offering visits to private islands
– Several cruise liners feature restaurants or menus by celebrity chefs
Jay Kantawala from WIYO Travel commented that statistics has shown that the cruise industry has been steadily growing and has seen a excellent growth in past 5 years, the year 2017 has seen a investment of over US Dollars 6.8 Billion in new cruise ships, this will add capacity further and the cruise companies are expecting the industry to grow at a good pace in the coming years. Lot of cruisers would use the cruise experience to feel a destination to only return there again at a later date to explore in depth.
Tags: Cruise tourism in India
