CLIA-Cruise Lines International Association, the largest cruise industry trade organization in the world, released the 2021 State of the Cruise Industry Outlook report highlighting the global economic impact, trend forecasts, and the continued commitment of the industry to responsible tourism practices.
Despite the challenging 2020, new research reveals there is optimism with 2 out of 3 cruisers willing to sail within a year and 58% of international travellers, who have never sailed, likely to cruise during the next few years.
The new State of the Cruise Industry report features a 2019 Global Economic Impact Analysis underscoring the growth of the industry and the corresponding contributions to the economy before the global health emergency. Last year, cruising sustained around 1,166 million jobs equaling USD 50.53 billion in wages and salaries and USD 154.5 billion total output worldwide.
The analysis found:
- Passenger Port City Spending - guests spent US$385 in port cities prior to boarding a trip and US$100 in each port destination during a voyage.
- Global Passengers – Most Cruisers from North America - the industry hosted 29.7 million passengers worldwide back in 2019. North America accounts for the highest rate with 15.4 million cruisers in 2019.
- Jobs Impact from Covid-19 Suspension - this year, every 1% loss of vacationers resulted in a reduction of 9,100 cruise industry-related jobs. Each day of the suspension of operations caused direct and indirect industry losses of a total of 2,500 jobs.
CLIA member companies are expected to debut 19 new ocean ships in 2021, resulting in 270 total CLIA ocean ships in operation by the end of 2021. The “Fleet of the Future” will have enhanced health and safety protocols for the resumption of guest operations designed to help protect crew, passengers, and destinations.
- Successful Sailings - there were 200+ sailings from early July through mid-December this year with multiple enhanced measures. The success of the initial sailings demonstrated new protocols were working as designed - mitigating the risk of Coronavirus among passengers, crew members, and the destinations visited.
- New Cruise Protocols - some of the protocols include passenger and crew COVID-19 testing before embarkation, air management, physical distancing, mask-wearing, and ventilation strategies along with enhanced medical capabilities.
CLIA members worked to address the COVID impact. The cruise industry remained focused on the commitment to a more sustainable future. The new report highlights the industry’s US$23.5 billion investment in vessels with new technologies and cleaner fuels, partnerships with local governments in major destinations, as well as a commitment to reducing the rate of carbon emissions by 40% by 2030 in comparison with 2008. The report highlights the cruise industry's progress in the adoption of new technologies.
- LNG-Liquified Natural Gas - 49% of newbuild capacity on order is to rely on LNG fuel for its primary propulsion.
- EGCS-Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems - over 69% of global capacity utilizes EGCS, while 96% of non-LNG newbuilds are expected to feature EGCS.
- Advanced Wastewater Treatment Systems - 99% of newbuilds on order will boast these systems bringing global capacity served by the systems to 78.5%.
- Shore Side Electricity - 58% of newbuild capacity features SSE compatibility with 32% of global capacity already capable of SSE. 25% of the existing capacity will be retrofitted in order to use SSE.