Port protests and high demand: what’s happening to the global cruise industry

In the world, the interest of tourists in cruise vacations is growing, the number of newly built liners is increasing. Meanwhile, protests continue in some ports as the industry is criticized for its environmental impact.

During vacation  season, USM decided to analyze the market of the cruise industry in the world.

The language of numbers and facts

At the beginning of this year, it became known that 14 new cruise liners are planned to be commissioned in 2024. In the Global Cruise Ship Orderbook report of the Cruise Industry News magazine, a list of ships was published, which included megaliners, premium and luxury ships.

One of these ships, which is currently the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean Group’s “Icon of the Seas”, will make its maiden voyage from the Port of Miami in late January 2024.

Reuters writes that in general, by 2028, they plan to transport 10% more passengers than in 2023. We are talking about 31.7 million tourists who took cruise vacations last year.

But let’s rewind the film a little. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, cruise tourism was expected to reach a record high in 2020 with an estimated 32 million passengers. Of course, this did not happen – cruise ports were closed to avoid the spread of the virus, and companies had to cancel voyages. On some liners, additional quarantine restrictions were introduced when outbreaks of infection were recorded.

Today, the cruise travel sector has already exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

Marie-Caroline Laurent, European director of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), said the cruise industry had ordered an additional 57 cruise ships in addition to the approximately 300 ships already in operation to meet forecast demand.

Marie-Caroline Laurent

Protests in ports

Already, cruise operators are facing debate over overcrowding in crowded European port cities such as Spain’s Barcelona. It was here that protests took place in July, during which a small group of activists sprayed water on tourists from water guns.
In turn, CLIA representatives noted that cruise ship passengers make up only 4% of all tourists visiting Barcelona.
Amsterdam also plans to move the PTA cruise terminal from the city center by 2035 in order to reduce the tourist burden.
Starting next year, Greece plans to introduce restrictions on visiting the most popular islands by cruise ships. According to the Hellenic Ports Association, Santorini was the most popular island in Greece for cruise ships last year. 800 ships visited the island, bringing almost 1.3 million visitors. This is almost 17% more than in 2022.
It is worth adding that the main regions of the cruise business in the world are the Caribbean (75% of the volume) and the Mediterranean basins (20% of the volume). The protests in Europe’s ports are unlikely to have a significant impact on the industry.
At the same time, cruise lines are working to adapt liners so that they can switch to electricity from marine fuel when they are docked in ports. This is also necessary within the framework of compliance with EU requirements for the protection of the marine environment until 2030.

Protests in Barcelona

Cruises to Ukraine

It is impossible to avoid the painful topic of the war, which affected all industries in Ukraine, including the cruise industry.

As early as 2020, the restoration of cruise services in the Black Sea region was expected. Then Odesa port received 11 applications from cruise companies for future events. It was at this moment that the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the world.

For 2021, the port received 22 applications for cruise liner events from such world-famous operators as Azamara Cruises, SilverSea Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise Line, Phoenix Reisen Crystal Cruises and others. The season was supposed to start on April 30. The plans have been hampered by the fact that only a few cruise lines have begun to gradually resume passenger transportation in the surrounding regions, implementing new health protocols on board and filling ships no more than 50%. Many upcoming events in Odesa Port have been cancelled.

On September 28, 2021, the SeaDream II cruise ship was expected to dock in Odesa port.

The plans were to open a full cruise season in 2022. Odesa port received 29 applications for cruise ship calls. And for 2023, there were 15 applications.

In fact, Ukraine’s chances of joining the cruise industry were good, but the war made adjustments. Now it seems only a prospect for the distant future, because the Black Sea is mined, and cruise operators will definitely not risk the lives of the crew and passengers.

Read also: The Ukrainian judge planned a vacation on a cruise ship under the guise of a business trip.