Royal Caribbean Predicts Big Increase in Caribbean Business
Royal Caribbean International is predicting that its Caribbean cruise tourism business will grow by 50% by 2030, with overall economic benefit of cruise reaching US$6 billion.
President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Bayley told a recent Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) outlook forum that with the region continuing to grow in popularity among cruisers – eight of the top 10 cruise destinations worldwide are in the Caribbean, he said – now is the time to prepare for further increases in cruise passenger numbers.
“The Caribbean was, is, will always be, the number one cruise destination in the world,” Bayley told the gathering of ministers, chief executives, policymakers and other senior Caribbean tourism professionals at the gathering in Antigua and Barbuda.
“There are considerations that we need to take into account in terms of some of the destinations’ ability to absorb the growth that is coming – in some places the growth is perhaps already at a critical mass – but we need to find a way to accommodate the growth that is inevitably coming to cruise tourism in the Caribbean,” he stressed.
The Royal Caribbean CEO noted the success of the cruise line’s recent US$250 million private island destination experience in the Bahamas known as Perfect Day at CocoCay, saying it’s a perfect example of collaboration that benefits both the destination and the cruise line.
Perfect Day at CocoCay is a unique stop on what was once called Little Stirrup Cay, but is now a privately owned island destination by Royal Caribbean, and a tropical paradise for cruisers. It offers a number of attractions, including a record-setting water slide – the tallest in the region – and a massive wave pool described by the cruise line as the largest freshwater pool in the Bahamas.
“Once we put this product into the market in the US and globally, our phones went crazy. The demand we have seen for our ships and our products that go to Cococay has been amazing,” said Bayley.
He added, “As we evolve in terms of our ship design and experiences and what we are creating for our customers we really believe there is a huge opportunity to take all that knowledge… and transfer it into the destinations in a very meaningful way.”
