Report on the Current Status of the Global Cruise Industry

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of the cruise industry, encompassing its economic impacts, operational aspects, technological advancements, and regulatory frameworks. It examines the industry's significant contributions to global economies, including job creation and revenue generation, while also addressing the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report delves into the importance of port infrastructure, highlighting the need for modernization to accommodate larger cruise ships and enhance passenger experiences. It also explores the crucial role of technology in improving the passenger experience through virtual check-ins and other innovations. Furthermore, the report details the legal and regulatory environment governing the cruise industry, emphasizing the standards set by international and national authorities. It also analyzes current trends in the cruise tourism market, including the impact of disposable income and the emergence of new technologies. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing the key findings and the future outlook of the cruise industry.

Report on the current
status of Cruise
Industry

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Economic impacts of the Cruise Industry:..................................................................................3
Ports and Infrastructure:..............................................................................................................4
The Role of Technology:............................................................................................................4
The Role of Laws and Regulations:............................................................................................5
Trends in the cruise tourism market:...........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Cruise industry consists of companies and organisations which deals in providing cruise
services to their customers and also the ones who manage these services and the industry itself.
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for holidaying. Unlike the cargo ships and
ocean liners which are used for transport and other activities like travelling from one place to
other, cruise ships begin on round trip voyages to various ports where they are called, at these
ports passengers board the ships to go on tours without any particular destination. These tours are
called shore expedition. Cruises to nowhere or nowhere voyages are round trips without visiting
any port of call.
In the cruise industry there are 314 cruise ships operating globally with combined
passenger capacity of 537,000 as of December, 2018. As of 2020, the world's largest ship is
Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas (Casado-Díaz and et. al, 2021).
In this report various aspects of cruise industry are covered, namely; economic impacts of
the industry, ports and infrastructure, the role of technology, the roles of laws and regulations
and trends in the cruise tourism market.
TASK
Economic impacts of the Cruise Industry:
The latest data of the industry, that is of the pre pandemic period concludes that cruise
industry plays a significant role in world's economy. The cruise industry plays a significant part
in the creation of jobs and business opportunity for millions of people around the world (Sun and
Ni, 2018).
On an average there are 29.7 million passengers in the cruise industry availing these
services. They help in generating on an average of 1,166,000 jobs with more than £ 37 Billion
wages and salaries. Total output generated from this industry is more than £ 113.16 Billion .
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting pause in the operations of commercial cruise
has had annihilating impact on the cruise industry. Within this period there was a huge loss due
the interruption of cruise operations all over the world. There was a loss of more than £ 56
Billion in global economic activity. Also more than 518,000 jobs were lost with a subsequent
loss of more than £ 16 Billion.

In 2019 an average passenger spending was £ 282.06 on the port before even getting
onboard a cruise ship. Average passenger spending on visiting ports during a cruise was £ 73.4.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the business of cruise companies inadvertently, This resulted
a huge loss in the industry with an impact on the resources of the companies within. It will take
significant amount of investment to get the industry working efficiently again.
Ports and Infrastructure:
Sustaining modernised port infrastructure is as important as the maintenance of cruise
ships, as it is important to maintain local attractions to attract and keep cruise traffic. Recent
global developments and upgrades have made the passengers more interested in destinations and
home ports as they can attract them and are easily accessed. In accordance to the development in
the respective industry the ships get progressively larger, and in order to accommodate these
ships ports need to boost their abilities and must increase in size too.
Ports-of-call are really crucial to the cruise industry as well, as compared to the points of
boarding and disembarking. Older and smaller ports often rely on ships to anchor and guests to
come ashore, but the process is inconvenient because of steep boards and less area to hold every
passenger. These ports need to be build and developed to facilitate the passengers so that they
can easily stop ashore quickly and conveniently (Alfiero and et. al, 2018).
Certain destination with major attractions will automatically attract more travellers and
passengers regardless of their port facility conditions and shore excursion offerings, but even for
these it will be beneficial to get repeat visitors and also for the cruise lines which are seeking to
diversify their options from competitors with unique choices. As cruise ships become more and
more destination prone, the travellers will choose another cruise line or ship with different
destinations and more facilities. One of the primary reasons that makes people travel and cruise
is to visit attractive ports abroad.
The Role of Technology:
Technology is of great significance for the cruise industry. It enhances the cruise
experience for the passenger and allows them have a smooth experience on the cruise ship, from
the moment they enter in the cruise ship to the moment they leave the ship, shore excursions,
delivery of contact, to anticipate the guest needs and their wants throughout their stay on the
cruise ship. Technology helps the passengers to enjoy cruising even more (Sun and et. al, 2019).

Cruise industry is the fastest growing industry in the travel sector. As per a survey done
by FCAA, 88% of people claimed that cruises are more relaxing than holidays which are not
water based and 82% claimed that they are less trouble and provide more than enjoyment than
land based holidays. This brings light to the competition in the cruise industry and the only way
that can penetrate the market is technological advancement. Technology provides guests with
ease of access and a leisurely experience. There are multiple ways of technological
improvements which has helped improving the cruise ship experience. One of these
technological improvement is virtual check in facility.
Travellers are well aware the most troublesome thing in any holiday is arrival, and cruise
ships are no exception in this. With thousands of passengers checking in at the same time, cruise
ships can face problems and boarding can become slow and frustrating. Royal Caribbean, a
renowned cruise line, has provided its latest ship, Celebrity Edge, with facial recognition
technology. This helps in eliminating the dreaded check-in queue. This helps both the company
and the passengers as everyone saves time.
The Role of Laws and Regulations:
There are clearly defined standards and regulations imposed on the cruise industry which
makes it a heavily regulated industry. An ordinary cruise ship goes through multiple declared
and undeclared inspections regarding safety and precautions every year, this involves a lot of
time and carrying out of multiple instructions and requirements set by the International Maritime
Organisation ( IMO) and other authorities.
Cruise ships and its operations are highly prone to be inspected and the cruise industry is
closely organized with strict control by external authorities. These regulating authorities set
broad safety and security standards which helps in providing protection to the crewmembers and
enhance their health and environmental performance. International regulatory authorities include
the World Health Organization (WHO),the IMO and International Labour Organization (ILO). It
also includes agencies like the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which have complete
control to regulate and make it mandatory for ships which are entering or departing from UK
ports to comply with their guidelines (Gu, 2019).
Cruise ships are required to undergo three layers of inspection and compliance of
international law and other requirements:

 Port States: When a cruise ship visits any country's ports or waters, the country
has full authority to examine the ship and make sure that the ship follows all the
international, national and local regulations.
 Countries of Registration: The country in which the cruise ships are registered
must make sure that these ships meet all the global necessities. These countries
inspect cruise ships frequently to check the compliance of both international and
national standards and guidelines.
Trends in the cruise tourism market:
As per the data of 2019, the global market of cruise tourism is prediced to grow at
compound annual growth rate of 10% during the forecasting period of 2020-2027. This growth
will be directly affected by the change in the disposable income of people which is combined
with the factor of growth and expansion in the cruise onboard facilities and offerings. This will
help cruise tourism market to grow in the defined forecast period (Doumbia-Henry, 2019).
Disposable income of the people highly influences the global market of cruise tourism all
around the world mixed with the factor of progressively developing preference of lavish life by
the people. Large crowd is further attracted by the entry of new and innovative ships with new
technological advancements and a lot of other features and amenities for the travellers to enjoy.
For instance, Royal Caribbean ( a leading cruise line company) has long been
continuously trying to innovate their cruise ships by providing amenities and facilities like
entertainment, pool and never seen before activities and features. It's the only cruise line
company to offer ice skating shows in an onboard rink on few of its ships and water-based
acrobatic shows in a pool-based stage area on Oasis-class ships (Sun and Ni, 2018).
However, due to high operation cost, the current pandemic and also due to the
environmental factors the growth and expansion of Cruise Tourism and Industry will be
hampered in the forecast period.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that Cruise industry is the most potent industry in
the travel and tourism sector. It showed immense economic growth and prosperity compared to
all other industries in the travel and tourism sector. Due to the pandemic the cruise industry
incurred a heavy loss and will require huge investment to get that speed of growth in track.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Sun, X. and Ni, R., 2018. Shore excursions, activities and relevant resource allocations of
international cruise ports. Tourism Tribune. 33(7). pp.63-78.
Alfiero, S. and et. al, 2018. The efficiency of the continental European transportation cruise ship
companies. A slack based DEA application.
Casado-Díaz, A.B. and et. al, 2021. Expanding our understanding of cruise visitors' expenditure
at destinations: The role of spatial patterns, onshore visit choice and cruise category.
Tourism Management. 83. p.104199.
Sun, H. and et. al, 2019. Competition model of cruise home ports based on the cruise supply
chain–based on China cruise market. Maritime Policy & Management. 46(3). pp.277-
294.
Gu, J., 2019. Establishment and Application of National Integrity Management System for
Cruise Ports. In Report on the Development of Cruise Industry in China (2018) (pp.
219-234). Springer, Singapore.
Doumbia-Henry, C., 2019. Foreword for JOMA December 2019—empowering women in the
maritime community: the way ahead. WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs. 18(4). pp.521-
524.
Sun, X. and Ni, R., 2018. Chinese cruiser’s product cognition, emotional expression and brand
image perception: A web content analysis. Geogr. Res. 37. pp.1159-1180.