Sea and river cruises have always had great deep sales. So often tourists book cruises for a year, and sometimes two years in advance. This is caused by many factors:

 

- At a price. As a rule, it is more profitable to buy a cruise in advance at the cost of an early booking;

 

- Workload. The closer to the cruise date, the fewer seats on the most interesting routes and liners;

 

- The desire to plan your trip in advance.

 

Of course, such earlier booking is not very common among citizens of Ukraine. Basically, cruises are booked six months to a year in advance. But in the countries of North America, Europe and Asia, this practice is very popular.

 

Despite the worldwide quarantine and the spread of the virus, cruise sales at the end of 2020 and throughout 2021 are only growing and have already exceeded the same figures for the previous year. The thought immediately comes to mind - "This is a fake." Yes, indeed, I myself caught myself on this thought ... But having studied all aspects more carefully, I agreed with this information. What influenced this growth?

 

Let's look at everything in order:

 

1. As it was written above, a great depth of sales. Routes are scheduled 2 years in advance, so tourists who like to relax on cruises are already looking for options, and many are booking;

 

2. Deferred demand. Many people planned their holidays and travels for the spring of 2020 and were not able to go on their well-deserved vacation. Tourists are used to traveling, and now they are practically locked up. Everyone dreams of breaking free and flying away somewhere and taking a break from all this negativity and "4 walls". I want to say on my own that I simply cannot sit in quarantine, while realizing all the risks of the spread of the virus;

 

3. Completely new conditions for booking from cruise companies. All cruise companies in the world have somehow relaxed their booking conditions, which cannot but please regular customers, although many are still waiting for a decrease in prices and promotions. You can familiarize yourself with the new conditions of booking at the link: Anti-crisis conditions for booking cruises. Such conditions have not been offered in other travel segments (air, hotels, etc.)

 

4. Continuous growth of the cruise market. It is the cruise market that has been showing stable growth for many years. More and more people are learning about cruises and choosing this type of travel, which causes great demand and an increase in the number of ships. Thus, more than ten completely new cruise ships of different classes appear every year.

 

5. The transfer of canceled cruises that were canceled due to the pandemic. Cruise companies were forced to cancel all cruises for the spring of 2020, resulting in billions of dollars in losses. However, all tourists will receive refunds for canceled cruises. Some cruise companies return both money for the cruise and vouchers (FCC - Future Credit), and for many bookings they also provide many bonuses (All conditions, promotions and bonuses for canceled cruises are here). Of course, most tourists, understanding the situation, rebook cruises for new dates. Many were even delighted with such conditions, because they can afford a cabin of a much higher category and will also receive an onboard loan (money that can be spent on board the liner).

 

According to our market analysis, these are the main “levers” that have influenced the global demand for cruises.

 

This is complemented by information from representatives of cruise corporations, tourism representatives and reports of investment companies:

 

1. A global report published on 08/04/2020 (and then the situation was worse) by the investment company UBS, confirmed that most tourists choose the FCC, and not a refund.

 

- Norwegian Cruise Line - over 50% chose the FCC

 

- Royal Caribbean - over 50% chose the FCC

 

- MSC Cruises - 80 - 85% chose the FCC

 

The greatest demand is shown by cruises in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also worth noting the fact that cruise companies provide different conditions for each market. So, for the European market, MSC Cruises provides refunds only in the form of FCC, for more details on the LINK.

 

2. The representative of the world famous American Express Travel company - Vicky Garcia, confirms that the rates of rebooking of cruises under the FCC are higher than expected, and the total number of bookings in the company, compared to the previous year, increased by 15%. Tourists constantly consult with the managers of the company to get the maximum benefit from the transfer of the cruise.

 

3. The share of overbooking of cruises under the FCC in our company was more than 95%. Fort Gates Ukraine managers work every day to select new cruises for the transfer of the FCC to new cruises. At such moments, the need for service is felt as much as possible, because we not only advise on the choice of a cruise, but also help our clients and agents to get the maximum benefit from the transfer of the cruise.

 

4. Representatives of the largest cruise corporation Carnival Corporation, which includes many cruise companies, noted that during the period from 01/26/2020 to 03/15/2020, cruise sales decreased significantly. But already in April the volumes sales showed steady growth.

 

All this gives hope for not fast, but stable and confident recovery of the cruise market and tourism in general!

 

If you have any questions, please contact the managers of the cruise department of For Gates Ukraine LLC.

 

We are always happy to help answer all your questions!

 

Director for Gates Ukraine

Nikolay Plokhotnyuk