“
The cruise market Fincantieri, another maker of luxury cruise
is an interesting that around 100 cruise ships have been
one, because we don’t
know how much more it
ships, until 2027,” Karvonen says, adding
ordered from shipyards, globally speaking.
“The cruise market is an interesting
one, because we don’t how much more
it can grow. We do know that there is
more variety now with cruises taking place
in Caribbean, Europe and Asia,” he says.
According to Karvonen, innovation-
can grow.
driven shipmakers such as Meyer Turku will
continue to thrive, because the cruise-goer
is always looking for the next big thing –
and the Turku shipyard can deliver with
the best of them.
“Every cruise ship needs that ‘wow’
element. More and more, the most impor-
tant destination on the whole cruise is the
ship itself.”
that reduce friction between a ship’s hull data, cruising continues at a paced GOING DIGITAL
and seawater. growth around the world with an almost But what kind of new innovations could be
AS CLIA listed Cruise Trends for 7 % increase from 2017 to 2018, total- in the cards for the cruise ships? Accord-
2019, it acknowledged that travelers want ing 28.5 million passengers. Research also ing to CLIA, the industry needs to recog-
to see the world in a conscious, mindful shows North American travelers continue nise that travelers use tech in daily lives
way. According to the trend report, the to embrace cruising with an annual pas- and are expecting smart tech when vaca-
cruise industry “is more conscientious than senger increase of 9 % (14.2 million pas- tioning as well. As a response, cruise lines
ever,” working diligently to minimise envi- sengers) in 2018. Europe and Asia Pacific have adopted technology for cruise travel-
ronmental footprints. are following suite, with 7.17 and 5.7 mil- ers – including keychains, necklaces, brace-
lion passengers, respectively. lets, apps and more – in order to provide a
GREEN WAVE EMERGING
While the cruise sector represents
highly personalised travel experience while
Tapio Karvonen, Senior Researcher, Univer- 2 % of the overall global travel industry, sity of Turku, Centre for Maritime Studies, this segment is on pace with international CLIA Trends 2019 report also points
believes that the future of the cruise indus- tourism worldwide. According to the latest out to a “changing of the guard”, of
try is largely tied to the question of per- UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, inter- sorts: the up-coming Generation Z is set
ception: will cruises be viewed as “green national tourist arrivals grew 6 % in 2018 to become the largest consumer gen-
enough” to convince the eco-conscious (totaling 1.4 billion) while cruise travel eration by the year 2020 – outpacing
consumer planning his/her holiday? – After grew at almost 7 % during the same tim- even Millennials. This generation (much
all, taking a big, big boat on a spin at sea is ing. In addition, more than eight out of like the one before) prefers experiences
certainly not an emissions-free activity, but ten CLIA-certified travel agents stated that over material items and is keen to travel.
then again, neither is flying to an exotic they are expecting an increase in sales in The appeal of multiple destinations and
destination. 2019 over last year. unique experiences, such as music festi-
“Cruise lines want environmentally-
on and off the ship.
vals at sea, is likely to attract this new cat-
minded ships where energy consumption LOOK BEYOND THE HORIZON is brought down. It’s up to the shipyards Tapio Karvonen points out that shipyards “The fascination with extraordinary
to deliver,” Karvonen notes.
egory of c ruisers.
have filled out their order books during experiences onboard is not going any-
So far, the business shows no signs the present positive stretch. “Meyer Turku where – in fact, it’s getting stronger,” says
of waning down. According to CLIA’s has ship orders until 2024 and the Italian Karvonen. n
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