3 Big Challenges Cruise Lines Still Have to Overcome in China
Photo Credit: Golden Era, the ship that sails for SkySea Cruises, is shown in port in Jeju, South Korea, in 2016. The cruise line will stop operating by the end of the year. SkySea Cruises
Skift Take
China has been full of ups and downs as the cruise industry has grown its presence in the market. Identifying the cause of the downs — and taking steps to manage the factors that can be controlled — should help operators find stability.
At an annual gathering of cruise industry executives last month, CEOs from the largest operators in the world offered cautiously upbeat words about China, a market that had earned runaway optimism in earlier years:
"It's probably going to be the largest cruise market in the world sometime in the future," Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald said.
"I think that China has got great potential, of course," said Pierfranceso Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises, speaking with the others on a panel about the state of the industry at the Seatrade Cruise Global event.
"China's stable; it's still a work in progress in many ways," said Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio. "I think we all see it as a long-term investment; we're all willing to be patient."
Moderator Peter Greenberg, the travel editor for CBS News, interrupted.
"When someone says it's stable, it's a work in progress, it means the patient is still in the hospital," he pointed out.
Is the cruise industry
