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Royal Caribbean, one of the world’s leading cruising company, is planning to widen its customer base in India by tapping into the family segment, with cheaper and short-haul itineraries.
The cruise line draws mostly two types of customers — the very young who go on parties for two-three days for $500 and the highly affluent, usually over 50 years old, who tour Europe for around $10,000 a person. “We want to be the number one cruise line in India. We will launch products for the family market in South Asia. This segment will become the nursery for future growth,” said Gavin Smith, regional vice-president, Asia-Pacific.
The company has been operating in India for the past 21 years through a tie-up with Tirun Marketing but the share of India in its overall business remains insignificant.
While Royal Caribbean has docked many ships in Indian ports while coming from Dubai or Europe, it has never created an itinerary around India.
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“There isn’t a huge desire among people to see their own coastline. Also, if we were to put a ship in a port here, we will have to rely on the Indian market to put most guests as flying from other markets is very expensive,” Smith added.
The company has invested in cruise infrastructure in a few places such as Singapore, Istanbul (Turkey), Barcelona (Spain), etc, but it has no such plans for India.
“We need the market to be substantially bigger than what it is today,” Smith said.
The cruise tourism industry is growing at an annual rate of 12 per cent globally. A World Tourism Organization (WTO) study indicates that 1.4 per cent of international arrivals worldwide are cruise tourists.
India accounts for 0.5 per cent of the world’s cruise market, with around 100,000 guests taking a cruise holiday annually.
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While the customer base might be small, 10-12 per cent of the total crew employed by Royal Caribbean comes from India. The company recruits a large number of chefs and seamen from Mumbai and Goa every year.
“We do disproportionately well in India when it comes to hiring. We have started looking at hotel schools, Sheraton’s hotel’s training programme to get people on board, especially in the food and beverage department,” Smith said.
Even so,the company feels it has to go a long way in making cruise holiday a popular choice among Indian travellers. With incidents such as Costa Concordia (an Italian cruise ship that sank after it capsized at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, Italy, on January 14, 2012, killing 32) raising the fear of accidents on the high seas, cruise companies are taking extra steps to assure customers.
“The cruise industry has an established norm of compensating people who don’t get what they paid for. At the end of the day, we are operating a massive piece of machinery. Time to time, there can be an equipment failure. We concentrate on looking after guests,” Smith said.
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In fiscal 2013, Royal Caribbean Cruises reported net income of $530.6 million. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Oslo Stock Exchange. Founded in 1969, the company has a fleet of 21 ships. In 2014, its cruise liners are expected to visit 235 ports, in 69 countries across six continents.
