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Global cruising gets set for Asian led growth
The Global cruising industry has experienced unprecedented levels of global growth over the past few years. In 2015, 25 million travellers experienced a cruise.
The product range in cruising extends from super cruises such as Ovation on the Seas which accommodate over 5,000 passengers to smaller niche adventure cruising product which can enable passengers to explore remote coastal destinations such as Patagonia, Antarctica, Papua New Guinea, the glacier coast of Alaska or the inlets of Australia’s Kimberley region.
In Sydney, over 450 Australian and New Zealand travel professionals attended the Cruise 360 Conference held by CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) the cruise industry’s global association.
The conference was held on Friday, 16 September.
The high level of interest, especially from travel agents is indicative of the fact that the cruise market from Australia and New Zealand has enjoyed a spectacular rate of growth over the past 10 years.
Steve Odell, the Chairman of CLIA Australasia pointed out that in 2015 over 1.05 million Australians and 66,000 New Zealanders undertook a cruise.
Market growth has exceeded 15% annually since 2005 and Australia has the highest proportion of travellers undertaking cruising of any country in the world.
Globally, over 70% of cruise bookings are transacted via travel agents and the dominance of travel agents in managing cruise bookings is set to continue well into the future.
Steve Odell observed that the variety and complexity of cruise product coupled with the fact that the needs of cruise passengers are very specific lends cruising to the personalised advice that travel agents can provide.
CLIA globally has trained many thousands of travel agents thorough its cruise training programs.
Cindy D’Aoust, Global President and CEO of CLIA addressed the conference and provided a global perspective on the cruise industry.
She told the audience that while 49.5% of global cruise passengers in 2015 were Americans, the proportion of US based passengers was shrinking.
Although US cruise passenger numbers continued to grow, the centre of gravity of cruise market growth was clearly shifting to the Asia-Pacific.
She pointed out that the new centres of cruising growth would come from China, Japan, South Korea and SE Asia.
The growing middle classes of Asia have discovered cruising and are taking to it in a big way.
She predicted that in 10 years the Asian cruise market could exceed that of the United States.
The growth of global cruising has led to an urgent need for infrastructure development, especially berthing and port facilities in a growing number of destinations.
The conference venue, Sydney is no exception.
Sydney is one of the world’s most popular cruising destinations and embarkation points and its limited berthing infrastructure is widely seen by the Australian cruise industry as a barrier to growth.
This article will be the first of two I will write on the cruise industry as a result of the conference.
The clear message for travel industry professionals globally is that cruising is set for very positive growth.
CLIA is certainly doing an outstanding job in providing industry professionals with the tools to effectively leverage from that growth.
Source: etbtravelnews.com
