For a significant recovery of the cruise from 2023 onwards, executives of the sector speak to APE-MPE. They add that by 2024, global cruise travel is expected to return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
They emphasize that this year 2022 is a transition period, pointing out that the number of cruise passengers currently carried by cruise ships is approximately 70% – 80% of the ships’ capacity.
According to forecasts by an international analysis house for the industry, in 2022 the number of passengers is expected to close globally at 22.5 million passengers compared to 17 million passengers in 2021, an increase of 32.5%.
In 2020 the number of cruise passengers worldwide closed at 8 million passengers compared to 29 million in 2019, a year in which the restrictive measures against the pandemic had not yet been imposed.
It is noted that 2020 and 2021 were two years when the sector suffered significant losses in the number of passengers, due to the restrictive measures against the pandemic.
The number of cruise passengers worldwide in 2023 will rise to 26.5 million passengers, in 2024 to 29.8 million and in 2025 to 31.5 million. It is noted that according to the specific data the cruise industry will return slightly more than 2019 levels in 2024.
The total number of cruise ships worldwide in 2022 was 350 ships, of which 279 were members of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), representing 92.5% of global tonnage.
For our country, the sector’s figures are very optimistic, since, according to figures from the Hellenic Ports Association, the number of pre-booked cruise ships for 2022 in Greece reaches 4,939 ships.
According to ELIME, in 2021 a total of 2,064 cruise ships with 1,418,315 passengers arrived in our country, compared to 3,979 cruise ships with 5,552,384 passengers in 2019, a year when the restrictive measures for the pandemic did not yet exist.
Based on the planning of the cruise lines so far, the top 10 destinations in terms of number of cruise ship arrivals for this year are the port of Piraeus with 739 calls, Santorini with 741, Corfu with 414, Mykonos with 692, Rhodes with 440, Heraklion with 231, Patmos with 213, Katakolo with 197, Chania with 119 and Kefalonia with 155.
Spending by cruise tourists in our country in 2019, a year when there were still no travel restrictions due to the pandemic, amounted to 457 million euros, compared to 433 million euros in 2018, an increase of 5.7%.
Also, the expenses of cruise companies in Greece in the same period for catering, fuel and various works reached 127 million euros in 2019, compared to 120 million euros in 2018, an increase of 5.7%.
Companies turning to larger and smaller cruise ships
Company executives also report that now the major companies in the industry internationally are now turning to the construction of either much larger or smaller cruise ships, avoiding medium-sized cruise ships.
This preference of the companies for the ships of more than 2,000 passengers has to do with the reduction of the operating costs of the ships and the increase of the revenues, while the preference for the smaller ships has to do with the fact that more and more companies are building ships of 700 of passengers can rise to the category of luxury cruises approaching small islands of the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean where the proper infrastructure for the largest cruise ships does not yet exist.
According to the global order book from 2022 to 2027 it is planned to build 24 cruise ships that will be able to carry from 200 to 700 passengers, 16 from 700 to 1,200 passengers and 37 from 1,200 to 6,000 passengers.
In 2022, at least 11 small cruise ships of 130 to 930 passengers are scheduled to be delivered from European shipyards to various companies and another 9 large cruise ships with a capacity of 2,500 to 5,400 passengers. For example, in September 2022 Dream Cruises is expected to receive from German shipyards the Clobal Dream cruise ship with a capacity of 5,000 passengers and a cost of 1.8 billion dollars, while Carnival in October 2022 from Finnish shipyards the cruise ship Celebration with a capacity of 5,200 passengers and costing $950 million. In the fourth quarter of 2022, MSC Cruises will take delivery of the 5,400-passenger Word Europa cruise ship from French shipyards at a cost of $1.2 billion.
Besides, in the same period, Viking Ocean is expected to take delivery of two cruise ships, Neptune and Mars, with a capacity of 930 passengers each.
Also, Swan Hellenic is expected to receive the Unnamed with a capacity of 192 passengers and a cost of 170 million dollars from a Helsinki shipyard.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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