The Journey will be a series of short articles focusing on the future and sustainability of the cruise industry.
The
CRUISE
INDUSTRY
The cruise industry is unique compared to any other industry. While it transports people it does not necessarily transport them simply from point A to point B. It is instead an all-inclusive vacation destination that just happens to sail the seven seas.
This philosophy is astonishingly simple: Happiness and relaxation are not only in the destination but also on the journey itself.
The industry had been steadily growing until the pandemic at an annual growth rate of 5.4 %. We are still waiting for the final numbers for 2022, but we saw more and more cruise ship owners and operators returning to offer the dream vacations close to 30 million annual passengers. The Cruise Market Watch has brilliant interactive visualization of the industry’s statistics, such as the growth shown below. [1]
The growth can be attributed to the ever-growing size of cruise ships accommodating more cabins and the increasing consumer spending on leisure activities. When the pandemic hit the world in 2020, the cruise industry practically came to a standstill, and the yearly passengers carried dropped to the levels around the start of this century. Despite the pandemic, it bounced back to the levels of 2006 within one year – thanks to vaccinations, loyal cruise passengers, and committed owners and operators.
They restarted the operations and kept them safe. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) published an extensive cruise industry outlook in 2022. Based on their analysis and data, the industry seems to recover from the pandemic dip completely during this year (2023).
This is a remarkable recovery after practically a stand-still of two years. In the long term, the industry is projected to grow slower than the pre-pandemic rate of 5.4 % per annum. There are many speculations around this number, but the broader themes for underlying causes for stunted growth revolve around the themes of the pandemic and associated doubt in passengers’ minds, and naturally general awareness of sustainability and fear of GHG emissions from the industry.
Join us on The Journey.
the
JOURNEY
We call this short blog series The Journey, and it will consists of four short articles in which we will address the following topics:
Impact of the shipping industry, specifically the cruise industry, on greenhouse gas emissions, including an overview of regulatory developments in the past decade.
How do different activities within the cruise ship contribute to the emissions?
PART III
What are the current steps taken to address some of these problems?
PART IV
What are the potential future solutions, and how will ALFRED help decarbonize?
We will be very happy to hear all the feedback you might have!