All aboard!
So, the headline is that cruises are back.
Indeed, cruise tourism is expected to make a titanic comeback this year, with passenger volumes forecast to exceed pre-pandemic levels by 6% — increasing at an even faster rate than overall international tourist arrivals in 2023, which are only estimated to have returned to 80-95% of the number of voyagers seen in 2019.
Since travel restrictions have phased out, it appears that vacationers are rushing to try out their sea legs. Despite the dip in cruise passengers, as nightmare scenarios played out on Covid-stricken stranded cruise liners around the world, the public’s enthusiasm for vacationing on the high seas clearly runs deep. Estimates from the CLIA see the number of ocean-going cruise passengers reaching nearly 40 million per year by the end of 2027.
Indeed, this summer appears to have been a bumper season for the industry. Operator Global Ports Holdings, which claims to be the world's largest cruise port operator, revealed almost 2x as many passengers across its network in the three months to June 30, translating to a quarterly revenue increase of 60%.
Furthermore, the largest cruise operators in the world are showing little problem filling the rooms on their increasingly enormous fleets. Royal Caribbean experienced record-breaking demand for its new flagship Icon of the Seas — set to be delivered in October — which is nothing short of a remarkable feat of engineering. Coming in at 1,196 feet, or nearly 4 Statues of Liberty laid end-to-end, Icon will offer its 5,600+ guests the choice of 6 waterslides, 7 pools, 19 floors to explore, and 40+ bars and restaurants.
