travel-cruise-2017-1

Spotlight
"THE MORE PEOPLE CRUISE,
THE MORE THE WORLD
BECOMES A SMALLER AND
BETTER PLACE."
The Golden Age of Cruising
By Arnold Donald, Global Chairman, CLIA;
President & CEO, Carnival Corporation & plc
I’m looking forward to working with my
many colleagues in the global cruise
industry. I am honored to be representing
our great industry – and really, what
better industry could there be than one
that delivers joy and happiness to the millions
of guests we serve?
At CLIA, we want everyone in the
cruise industry to do well. We want
everyone to succeed. It is in our common
interest to have high standards for
safety in everything that happens on all
our ships, but also in the waters we sail.
We recognize that issues or problems
anywhere in the world, affect us all, and
it is in our best interest to collaborate
on marine operational best practices,
wherever possible. CLIA helps us guide
policies and practices that ensure a safe,
secure, healthy and sustainable cruise
industry, and speak with one voice in
advocating, educating and promoting
cruising everywhere in the world.
CLIA also conducts valuable
research to help us see where we are as
an industry and plan our future based on
reliable data. The recent CLIA survey of
travel consumers finds that, contrary to
stereotypes, Millennials and Gen Xers
are engaging in cruise travel more than
ever before, along with the most pre- and
post-stay options.
This new “Cruise Generation” rates
cruising overwhelmingly as their favorite
type of vacation. The Cruise Generation
also tends to choose cruises so they can be
more active and explore new destinations.
Plus, the majority are loyal, saying they
will definitely take another cruise. And
even among those who have never cruised,
a good number of them described a cruise
as the best kind of vacation…meaning
there’s probably hope for them yet!
Of course none of this is news to us.
I believe that cruising is not only the best
vacation value there is; it is the best vacation,
period. Cruising is one of the most
unique, comfortable and sophisticated
modes of travel today. Where else but on
a cruise ship can you wake up in your
own bed every morning to find the world
outside has changed? The modern cruise
ship is your hotel: your four-star dining
room, your transportation, your nightly
entertainment, and every day you have
front row seats to the most amazing places
in the world.
People all over the world are falling
in love with cruising. In the last 10 years
the worldwide demand for cruising has
grown from 15.8 million to more than 25
million cruisers annually, and the increase
in cruise travel is expected to continue
throughout 2017.
But while talk about cruising inevitably
centers on passengers, and new ships,
I like to draw attention to the economic
impact of the cruise industry.
This is an industry that barely existed
50 years ago. CLIA estimates that
cruise industry expenditures in 2015
generated $117 billion in economic benefit
worldwide, both direct and indirect,
supporting almost one million full-time
equivalent employees who earned $38 billion
in income.
What this number doesn’t reflect completely,
however, is the economic multiplier
effect, as the dollars spent by us and our
guests trickle down through the economies
we impact all around the world.
Cruising helps to create small and
large businesses around the world, and
brings jobs and hope in many places where
opportunities are scarce. From the construction
worker building the ports, to the
chef with his own small restaurant, to the
cab driver driving around a visiting couple
from Kansas, to the artist in a local craft
market selling her work—cruise tourism
contributes to the economic vitality of
ports and their citizens. The shipyards
which build and maintain our ships
employ thousands of engineers and craftsmen
and women and sustain what is in
many instances, a centuries-old way of life
and tradition of shipbuilding.
Finally, and most importantly, cruising
brings us together. I believe that travel
is the antidote to ignorance and mistrust.
The more people cruise, the more the
world becomes a smaller and better place.
We are living in the golden age of
cruising. Never has there been such success,
amazing growth and superior technological
achievement. How lucky we are to
live in a time when cruising on these magnificent
ships is something we can all enjoy.
There has never been a better time to
cruise or to work in the cruise industry.
14 FIRST QUARTER 2017 | TRAVEL & CRUISE