Quezi

Ship or floating hotel? (Photo by lostajy CC-BY)

The cruise industry was estimated to generate $24.5 billion in revenues in 2008 with 15 million passengers cruising worldwide on 294 ships. These statistics come from the State of the Industry Report 2008-2015 published by Cruise Industry News. The report was published in July 2008 before the 2008/09 problems with global recession.

Eleven million people were anticipated to cruise on American based ships with US citizens forming 85 % of the passengers. Four million Europeans were forecast to travel on European ships.

Cruise ship building is estimated to expand the number of ships cruising worldwide in 2012 to 334, catering for 20 million passengers.

The largest cruise operator is Carnival Corporation with a 46% market share. Their subsidiaries trade under eleven brands and they report that they have a total of 89 ships with 17 ships on order. The company employs approximately 80,000 people worldwide. Brands include Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises (17 ships), Holland America Line (14 ships), P&O Cruises (6 ships), Cunard Line (3 ships) and Ocean Village (2 ships), AIDA (5 ships), P&O Cruises Australia (2 ships) and Iberocruceros (3 ships). 2007 revenues were $13.1 billion with a net income of $2.4 billion.

Royal Caribbean Cruises with 25% of the market, operate Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, CDF Croisieres de France, Azamara Cruises and Pullmantur brands and reports that it has 39 ships in service and 7 under construction. 2007 revenues were $6 billion and net income of $0.9 billion.

These are followed some way behind by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) with 6% and a fleet of 12 ships; and MSC Crociere in Italy with 5% and 9 ships and another 2 under construction.

The remaining market is shared by over fifty smaller companies.

Report may be purchased from Cruise Industry News