Waking up and eating breakfast on your private balcony, admiring the blueness of the ocean are the factors that are increasing charm of cruise tourism.
In 2019, 30 million passengers are expected to cruise, up from 17.8 million a decade earlier. The cruise ship industry is booming. Ships are getting bigger, better, more exciting and more experience-driven.
Construction work on the new $13 million Durban Cruise Terminal at South Africa’s busiest cruise port will commence in November and is due to be completed in 2021. It was confirmed by the Managing director for MSC Cruises South Africa, Ross Volk, who was speaking at a media briefing in Sandton on Tuesday. According to Volk, the cruise terminal will be capable of handling some 4 thousand passengers at a time.
Shanghai aims to become a hub for cruise tourism and a base for cruise companies' headquarters across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as a world-class home port and cruise tourism destination, by further innovating the policies, expanding its regional influence and upgrading the service capability for the cruise industry, Xinhua reports citing the municipal culture and tourism bureau of the city.
The Shanghai port has topped in cruise business across Asia over three consecutive years and makes up 63 percent of China's cruise market.
In his interview with CNN Travel, Martyn Griffiths, Director Public Affairs of Cruise Lines International Association, said that in increasingly crowded cities like Venice, Dubrovnik or Barcelona, ships only account for 5% of visitors.
According to Cruise Market Watch, the total worldwide ocean cruise industry in 2018 is estimated at $45.6 billion with 26 million annualized passengers carried. Carnival Corporation & Plc company had the biggest market share with revenue more than $18 million.
