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Premium cruise lines

Cruise ship industry is among the fasters growing segment in the hospitality industry all over the world, with an approximate annual growth rate of about 8.4%. According to darity (2008), in 2007 alone 12.6 million tourists cruise worldwide. This number grew the year after and it was approximately 80 million at end of 2013. At present, there are about 350 premium cruise lines sailing the world’s seas. Premium cruise industry has a number of economic benefits to a port state. These benefits arise from five principles which include; cruise tourist and crew spending, employment by the Premium cruise lines companies, premium cruise lines expenditure on goods and service, which are necessary for cruise operation, cruise line expenditure for port services, and expenditure for premium cruiser maintenance.

Most tourist in the world chooses premium cruise lines because they are smaller as compared to the larger cruise ships and, therefore, take fewer cruisers. The space ratio of the premium cruise lines is greater than the larger one, who make premium cruise lines are less crowded as compared to the greater. Some premium cruise lines, sometimes, characterize themselves up premium cruise. Most premium cruise lines offer larger staterooms and more luxurious bathing facilities as compare to large cruise ship (Dickinson & Vladimir, 2008).

How currents affect premium cruise lines

With the current technologies, premium cruise lines trends are shaping up with a greater focus on multigenerational groups with more unique food offering. Most of these premium ships now offers about a quarter mile boardwalk. Mullins & Walker (2013) show that some Cruise lines carry up to 3600 passengers and still include a jogging track and space for walk. Unlike the ancient premium cruise, modern cruise reflects new trends of being outside all the time with outdoor restaurants, much on-deck seating and other things that will make you be outside most of the time.

Modern technology has made it possible for premium cruiser to offer most luxurious things such as skating rings, planetariums, climbing walls, among other new attractive activities that keep coming. Among the most modern is Crystal symphony, which includes a vertical garden. The other two most competitive premium cruises are carnival Cruise lines and Holland America line cruise. Carnival lines cruise offer TV game, which allows passengers to participate while watching it (Papathanassis, 2012). The carnival cruise lines also include 3-D movies, which are shown on theatres equipped with motion seats, which has special effects like wind and water. America cruise lines, on the other hand, include programming partnership, which are usually used for fitness workout and pool parties.

With advance technology, most premium cruises have expanded food option. Some such as Norwegian have everything from separate bars of Asian noodles, raw shellfish to churrascaria. Most cruise lines also are trying to accommodate diverse needs for youth and adults. They are expanding where youths can have enough exercises and at the same time creating cool places for adults where they can sun, read books, and nap (Peng, 2009).

Lastly in the current trends is the information technology, which has shifted the way travellers book cruise lines. Unlike sometimes back where travellers were forced to book cruise lines with some middlemen, they now book it directly online through cruise’s company branded website.

Effects of cruise industry on economy

The benefits of the cruise industry are derived from income generated from the spending at the port. These incomes, which include money received from dockage, wharfage, and passenger’s spending were originally earned somewhere. In fact, direct purchases by cruise lines and passengers from local business create income and jobs. Local government benefits from the cruise industry through taxes imposed on this sector. In most cases, taxes flow directly from the port authority rather than local government (Walker, 2012)..

Benefits derived from the cruise industry are usually measured by impact analysis, which is based on input-output model. An input-output model calculates effects on the income; employment on the region, and value added which resulted from the original input. Direct and indirect effects that arise from the passenger’s spending become an income the affected local firms. All these incomes are received from the services and goods rendered. That means for a firm to produce and distribute the requisite goods and services, needed by cruise lines, local firms must invest some money. Therefore, if a country’s economy is poor and has less to invest on the cruise business, then the amount obtained from the travellers, are also low. If a country is so poor and fails to invest on this industry, the number travellers wishing to visit such a country will also reduce dramatically (John, 2008).

Social impact of cruise industry:

Premium cruise industry has a social and cultural impact on the destination. This impact is as a result of the relationship between residents and guest. Premium cruise lines have both social and negative impacts and positive impacts.

Cruise lines impact the society positively through culture exchange, labour issues, and revitalization of culture and tradition. Destination gives an opportunity for travellers to learn by visiting museums, cultural centres, and heritage centres. On the other site, social exchange is likely to increase the chances for people to develop mutual sympathy, understanding and tolerance. Therefore, it is clear that tourism can be away for local people to trade he culture and knowledge. The culture of the community can improve cruise industry in many ways. For instance, festivals and events local communities can increase the number of the premium cruise lines visiting a country.

Another positive social effect of the cruise industry is on education. A research show that cruise tourism has promoted and increase educational opportunity. According to Henkens(2006), tourism can also bring a positive force toward peace, and fosters pride in traditional culture that can assist in avoiding urban relocation.

On the negative side, cruise industry may lead to misunderstanding and conflicts. Generally, social impacts of cruise vary from place to place. However, the result can be managed by regulating the number and timing of visitors to avoid disruption of social and economic cycle (Butler, 2010).

Conclusion:

According to Cetron, DeMicco, & Davies (2006), it is undeniable that the premium cruise industry brings money to the local economy, however, ensuring development of the cruise industry at the destination require much capital. Therefore, the question is, do the cruise lines bring fewer benefits that the initial cost?

As could be seen, we have to make a decision that pressure to promote cruise industry. However, there is no policy in most government imposed to control the impact of such activity. Lack of planning allows confronting the massive arrival of cruise tourism will eventually lead negative effects in the destinations. Ports too often say those cruises are more important to them than the way they are important to the cruise lines. With the recent growth in the cruise industry, more ports need to be build (Conrady & Buck, 2009).

References

Butler, M. (2010). Cruise tourism: current situation and trends.. Madrid: World Tourism Organization.Cetron, M., DeMicco, F., & Davies, O. (2006). Hospitality 2010: The future of hospitality and travel.. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.Conrady, R., & Buck, M. (2009). Trends and issues in global tourism 2009. Berlin: Springer.Customer-to-customer interaction : impact on cruise experience and overall vacation satisfaction. (2008). Oxford Press: John.

Darity, W. A. (2008). International encyclopedia of the social sciences (2nd ed.). Detroit, Mich.: Macmillan Reference USA.

Dickinson, B., & Vladimir, A. (2008). Selling the sea an inside look at the cruise industry (2nd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.Mullins, J. W., & Walker, O. C. (2013). Marketing management: a strategic decision-making approach (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Papathanassis, A. (2012). Cruise tourism and society a socio-economic perspective. Berlin: Springer.Peng, Q. (2009). International Conference on Transportation Engineering, 2009 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Transportation Engineering, July 25-27, 2009, [Southwest Jiaotong University] Chengdu, China. Reston, VA: American Society of Civil Engineers.Walker, J. R. (2012). Introduction to hospitality management. s.l.: Prentice hall.