2 The Cruise fleet development - Highlights 2011/2012

摘要

The following contribution relates to the ISL Cruise Fleet Register 2011/2012 published in this issue. Besides a description of the fleet development it will also give some background information on other market elements. 2.1 Demand for cruises The year 2010 was a relatively good year for the cruise industry; especially European cruisers were responsible for a world-wide growth rate of nearly 7 per cent. Adding this to the 17.6 million cruise passengers the European Cruise Council stated in 2009, numbers have doubled during the past ten years. The US are still the number one market for cruises, but if the actual development lasts, the Europeans, nowadays only 30 per cent of the market, will close the gap to the US in a couple of years. The market policies of the leading operators like Carnival with its AIDA branch, shifting a growing share of their new ships towards the European market, are underlining these tendencies.